Roots
by RenkonNairu
Summary: -Sequel to "Thorns", Future-AU- Devlin is having a hard time adjusting to life with Kevin. Kevin doesn't know what to do with himself now that he's out of the Null Void. And then Proctor Servantis shows up and gets to the Root of the problem. (Also, slight Gwevin.)
1. Pardon

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

(A/N: This fic is a sequel to my first Ben 10 story "Thorns". I do recommend reading that one first as they both take place along a fanon AU and are a mix of several different series canons. It will make much more sense to you if you read them in order. However, each story is also its own self-contained adventure -rather like episodes in a series. So you can still pick and choose ones to read and -hopefully- not be _too_ confused. Anyway, you have been warned. Enjoy!)

Roots

Chapter One: Pardon

Having Kevin back from the Null Void and living with the family was an adjustment.

Of course, Devlin had to begrudgingly admit, any man that Mom chose to let move in with them would have been an adjustment no matter what. But Kevin was a different _kind_ of adjustment because there was a history to it.

It was like all the adults of the family, Mom, Kevin, and Uncle Ben -heck, even Grandpa!- were picking up some daily routine right where they left it off sixteen years ago with only the setting of that routine changed. That was all well and good for them. But neither Devlin or Kenny were alive when this routine was established and practiced, and so while it all seemed so natural, and perfect, and right to the grown ups, it was like throwing a wrench wrapped in C-4 into the finely tuned lives of the children.

Devlin sighed and for the third morning in a row, gave up on his mother showing up for their pre-breakfast martial arts practice.

He stood from where he'd been sitting in the lotus position (attempting and failing at a meditation) and sulkingly exited the gym. He stomped through the residential floor to his mother's bedroom door and banged on it three times to make sure he was heard over the sounds of… _grown-up things_ going on on the other side. There was a yelp of surprise, then the sound of something heavy tumbling to the floor and a very _male_ groan of discomfort and some choice words about exactly which part of his anatomy was unhappy. Devlin tried to ignore what he heard.

"So I guess karate just isn't something we do anymore!" He shouted through the door. Then, not really knowing what kind of reaction he even wanted, Devlin turned and stomped away before either of his parents could open the door to talk to him. He did not need to see either his mother or Kevin… like that.

He stormed to the kitchen and slumped down in a chair at the table. "Un-kriffin'-believable!"

Grandpa Max (technically Great-Grandpa Max) set a plate of whole-wheat toast slathered with kessle butter and a fried yhetti egg on top. Normally, Devlin -much like the rest of the family- didn't touch Grandpa's bizarre food. But this morning he was just to irritated to care how gross it looked. He picked up the terrestrial bread topped with alien butter and egg, closed his eyes and took a large, angry bite out of it. Chewed. Swallowed. Paused to look at what he'd just eaten. Shrugged. Took a second bite. It really wasn't all that terrible after all.

Grandpa set a glass of blue-tinted tattooine milk next to the plate and Devlin gulped that down too. Maybe alien food wasn't as nasty as it sounded.

Or maybe he was just so pissed off that he didn't notice how awful it really was.

Devlin cleaned his plate and drained his glass before Grandpa finally sat down at the table and spoke.

"They haven't seen each other in sixteen years." He said, a knowing smile crossing his face. Devlin hadn't said what was bothering him. But then, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. "This is like a second honeymoon for them. They'll calm down eventually."

"They can't have a 'second honeymoon' if they never had a first honeymoon to begin with. My mom and Kevin Levin were never married!" Devlin reminded his great grandfather. "Am I the only one who even remembers that? _They were never married!_ "

"Well, I know that's not me you're yelling about." Uncle Ben staggered in yawning. He was fully dressed in his usual cargo pants and white and black shirt. But that was about the only indicator that he might be up for the day. The moment Ben sat down at the kitchen table, his eyes fell closed, his cheek fell onto his hand, and he began to snore. Uncle Ben might be up, but he was not awake.

Grandpa just shook his head at his grandson's antics and turned his attention back to the elder of his two great-grandsons. "Look, this is a big change for you. The fact that he's your real father back from the Null Void not withstanding, your mother has never had one of her men living here before. This is a big deal. For everyone. Of course its gonna disrupt things around here for a while. Some of those disruptions might never go away, but for the most part, in another week, maybe two, things will go back to normal and it will feel like Kevin's always been here. The family might even be better for it. _You_ might be better for it."

Devlin looked skeptical.

"Your father has started lessons with you on matter absorption, hasn't he?"

"Yes…" Devlin did have to admit that was one good thing that came from Kevin living with them now. Before his convict (soon to be ex-con) father came to live with them, Devlin was unable to absorb matter. When they decided not to throw him back in the Null Void, Kevin promised to teach Devlin how to absorb matter. They had two lessons so far. Devlin still couldn't absorb matter, but he was sort of starting to form an idea of how it was supposed to work.

"So, you see, its not all bad." Max smiled. "Just a little different from before."

Devlin was all ready to start feeling better about this arrangement. Yeah, it was different from what he was used to. Yeah, it changed his entire routine around. Yeah, it would take time for him to adjust to living with his father for the first time since he was a couple of weeks old. But he _would_ get used to it, and he would be better for it. After all, he was the one who made the decision not to send Kevin back. Because Devlin always had wanted to know his father. Now he had that chance.

Then Kevin and Mom shambled into the kitchen. Wearing mismatched house robes, smelling of sweat and… other things, their hair all messed up, and looking more exhausted than when they went to bed the previous night. More exhausted, but very, very awake and happy. Very happy.

"Gatorade." Kevin groaned, making a B-line for the refrigerator. "I need Gatorade."

Mom just smiled, flopping down in a vacant chair. "Grab me one too!" Then she turned to her son. Attempting to comb her fingers through her tangled mess of vibrant red hair she asked Devlin, "What did you need this morning?"

"Yeah, what was the emergency?" Kevin came back to the table with two bottles of Gatorade and sat down next to Gwen.

Devlin glared at them both. Deciding that there was no way in heck he was ever going to get used to living like this. It wasn't that his evil, degenerate, ex-con, reformed villain father was occupying the same residence. But he was also taking Devlin's mother away from him. Making her forget about morning karate practice so that he could have his vile and fiendish way with her instead! No. There was no kriffing way Devlin could get used to this.

"Nothing." The boy growled. "There's nothing wrong."

"Rabbits…" Uncle Ben muttered in his sleep as he began to drool on the breakfast table.

There was a beat of silence.

Filled only by the sound of Grandpa frying normal terrestrial bacon and eggs. When these were done, he set two plates down in front of Kevin and Gwen.

"Normal food, Max? That's amazing!" Kevin dug in like he hadn't eaten real food in years. Which, considering that Devlin knew exactly what they fed to inmates in Incarceration, that was probably true. Three days of eating good home cooked meals wasn't nearly long enough to start taking it for granted again.

"Slow down or you'll make yourself sick." Gwen chided him. She took a bite of her own breakfast and several sips of Gatorade before clearing her throat. A sign that meant it was time to stop playing around and get down to business. "Alright, everyone, today is Kevin's Presidential Pardon, so lets go over the schedule one more time."

When they collectively decided not to send Kevin back to the Null Void, they had to quickly come up with a plan for keeping him here, while still keeping themselves clear of any charges for aiding and abetting or what have you. They kicked around ideas of changing his identity, having him take his old car and go on the run, renegotiate for a house arrest instead of life in the Null, etc. Finally, they decided on convincing Argit to give Kevin a Presidential Pardon. As President of Earth, it was well within Argit's power to do so.

The President of Earth, like every president before him, has the unique ability to override the justice system, release anyone he chooses from paying a fine, and return a person to the state of innocence he had before he ever committed a crime. The president isn't required to explain or justify his actions to Congress or anyone else for that power to pardon is left solely to the discretion of the president, and cannot be reviewed or overturned by any of the other branches of government.

The one and only draw back to this would be that Kevin would only be forgiven of crimes he committed either on Earth or against the Earth. It would not wipe away everything else he did everywhere else he went during his mad quest to absorb a Celestialsapien, over the course of which he absorbed the powers of 11,000 aliens earning himself the handle 'Kevin 11,000'.

Luckily, Earth did not have an extradition treaty. So, as long as Kevin stayed on Earth, that wouldn't be a problem.

"I'm not going." Ben muttered into the table cloth. "I'm not gonna show up without a date."

Uncle Ben had this idea in his head that Ben 10,000 couldn't show up to large public functions without a woman on his arm. His reasoning was long and convoluted. But, basically, it boiled down to, he just couldn't stand the thought of one of his ex-wives seeing him in the news unaccompanied and thinking that they were doing better than he was. 'Winning the break-up' was what he called it. Ben couldn't stand the idea that either of his ex-wives had won the break up (and by extension, that he had lost -Ben 10,000 did not lose).

"This isn't about you, Ben." Gwen reminded him.

"Besides, even if you did have a date, you'd lose her again before the end of the night." Kevin added. "You never could hold onto a woman."

This was true. His two divorces was evidence enough of that.

"Ben, we RSVP'd six people." Gwen was not having any of their banter today. "They have reserved six seats for us at the Pardon ceremony. You will be coming and if you can't find a date in the next five hours, then Grandpa will take the sixth seat."

Devlin was still annoyed with his parents for neglecting him this morning in favor of having gross sticky grown-up sex. But, Devlin was also a bit of a know-it-all and so he found himself adding, "Besides, it would be a good show of solidarity for Ben 10,000 to be at Kevin 11,000's Pardon Ceremony. If 10-K trusts 11-K, then other people can trust him too."

"That's exactly right." His mother nodded.

Kevin only smiled. He loved that his kid was as clever as his mother. But then again, Kevin always knew any kid that came from Gwen couldn't be anything less than spectacular. But it still never failed to bring a smile to his face when Devlin displayed just how phenomenal he really was. Maybe he was viewing the boy through metaphorical rose-colored glasses that prevented him from seeing any of the boy's flaws, or maybe he was just viewing any average intelligence as incredible because that's was what he imagined the boy to be. But as far as Kevin was concerned, his son was a shining pillar of perfection. Unlike Ben's kid, who was nice and all. Kevin didn't dislike him, he just had no compelling feelings about Kenny one way or another.

"And on the subject of public perceptions, Devlin, I'm gonna need you and Kenny to be on your absolute best behaviors." Gwen continued.

"I'm always on my best behavior!" Devlin was politely insulted.

Grandpa snorted over the stove at that. "Christmas two years ago. The Eggnog Debacle of '31."

Devlin quickly shut his mouth and tried to draw as little attention to himself as possible.

"What's the Eggnog Debacle of '31?" Kevin asked. He was still trapped in the Null at the time and would have missed it. In fact, Kevin was beginning to realize that he missed _all_ of his son's antics and misadventures.

"Nothing!" Devlin said quickly.

Ben perked up, finally awake and glad that this particular fiasco didn't feature his own son as the mastermind. "Oh, it wasn't nothing. Come on, Devlin, don't be modest. Not many fourteen-year-olds can figure out how to distill pure alcohol after only a few high school level chemistry classes." Then, turning to Kevin, Ben narrated. "Your boy here, found a way to distill pure alcohol -and I mean 100% alcohol by volume, one-hundred percent- then, he ropes my kid into spiking the eggnog at my Christmas party with it." A pause. "Emily! I should call Emily!"

And Ben bolted to his feet and dashed from the kitchen -presumably to find his cell phone.

Gwen just shook her head. Ben obviously didn't remember what Emily did to him _after_ that drunken kiss. Gwen herself was a little hazy on the details, but it somehow ended with Emily leaving Ben alone on the roof -naked. Ugh. That had not been a fun night.

Kevin looked thoughtful. "If you could distill pure alcohol, I wouldn't have just given it away like that." He was saying, more to himself than to Devlin. "There's actually a number of lower-end space ships that run off alcohol. I would have looked up the most recent market prices and compared them to the cost of production. There might have been a profit to be made there, Devlin."

Devlin made a face of displeasure. "Well, obviously, you and I don't think the same. Besides, Uncle Ben can choose to believe whatever he wants, but all I did was make the stuff. It was Kenny's idea to put it in the eggnog."

"Which brings us back to me needing the _both_ of you to behave yourselves." Gwen concluded, hoping that was the end of the conversation. "Where is Kenny anyway?"

Gwen, Devlin, and Grandpa all looked around the kitchen as if suddenly noticing that someone was missing. All the chairs had been filled when Ben was in the kitchen and so it didn't feel like anyone was absent.

"Devlin, don't you usually wake him up?" Max asked.

"I drag him out of bed right after karate practice, but-" a pointed glare at his parents "-I didn't have karate practice this morning." Or any morning since Kevin became a seemingly permanent fixture in their home. "I'll go get him now."

Just as Devlin walked out, Ben walked back in and slumped back down in his chair, tossing his phone on the table in defeat. "Emily told me to go to hell."

And Kevin did not snort in derision. He could have told Benji that was gonna happen. True, he had been absent from their lives for sixteen years, and sure a lot could have changed in that time, but Gwen's friend Emily was too clever, independent, and intelligent to accept Ben's invitation. But then, really, who would say yes to an invitation to an event that was going to happen in only another five hours?

If anyone was going to comment, they didn't get a chance to, as the sound of an air-horn shook the very walls around them.

The first morning Kevin spent with Gwen, he was so startled by Devlin's method of waking his cousin that he summersaulted out of bed, reached for the first metal object he could find, absorbed the brass of the bedpost, and morphed his arm into a mace before Gwen calmed him down and explained what was happening. It wasn't a prison riot. It wasn't a break-in or break-out. A fire. A chemical spill. A flood. A monster attack. Etc. It was just one teenager waking another.

Today was the third morning Kevin spent with the family and he was finally starting to get used to it.

And it was kind of cruel in a mundane and harmless sort of way that Kevin could appreciate. He approved of Devlin's methods. If he was tasked with waken Tennyson every morning, Kevin imagined himself employing a similar method.

The boys appeared in the kitchen shortly after everyone's hearing returned to normal -Kenny still in his pajamas.

"…but its Friday." The younger boy was muttering. "Why are you still in your karate gi? Where's you book? You always have a book at breakfast. Everything's wrong. Its like I'm trapped in an episode of the Scary Door." He paused and looked down at Kevin as if not quite understanding what he was seeing. Then looked up at everyone else in the kitchen, incomprehension written all over this face. "He's in my spot."

"Oh, for the love of…" Ben stood from where he was sitting on the opposite side of the table. "Here, Kenny, take my seat. I need to make some calls anyway."

Kenny flopped down, still in his early morning haze. "The stove's on the wrong side. Everything's wrong."

…

The Pardon Ceremony was long and boring.

It was held in the general assembly building of what used to be the United Nations Headquarters. After all the countries of Earth dissolved their borders and became one unified planetary nation, there then arose the questions of where exactly to place the capital. Geneva was suggested as a possible location. Zurich was another. Beijing. Moscow, Paris, London. Seoul. Finally they decided on repurposing the UN building in New York.

The decision made sense. It was already set up to house political leaders and representatives as well as run governments. There was already a surplus of linguists and translators in residence there. It was the perfect logical choice.

To spite the fact that the assembly building had almost two-thousand seats, it looked like the whole hall was packed. Everyone wanted to come see what exactly would happen at Kevin 11,000's Pardon. The family sat in the front row, closest to the platform.

Argit delivered a speech about crimes of passions, subjective morality, and bad decisions made by good people, about forgiveness and second chances and turning over a new leaf. It was long-winded and drawn-out. Really, it felt more like a saturday morning cartoon wrap-up. Finally, when that was over, Kevin got up to actually receive his pardon. That part of the ceremony was remarkably short.

Finally, it was over and they were free to go.

An informal dinner and social function was held in the gardens.

Service staff made circuits of the crowd carrying trays of hors d'oeuvres and flutes of champaign. One would think it was a reception ball for a foreign dignitary, and not an after party for the President erasing the crimes of one of the most feared, hated, and infamous terrorists in the galaxy.

Kevin, Gwen, Ben and Max sipped champaign while the boys held glasses of water.

"So, I still haven't heard the story of how my buddy Argit became president of a planet." Kevin commented.

The crowd parted and the very Argit approached, flanked by two of his Techadon robots. He offered a lopsided grin. "Come on, Kev, are you really all that surprised?"

It was a fair question. After all the con's they pulled together over the years, was it really all that surprising that he managed to con his way into office? Weren't all politicians crooks anyway? No. It wasn't surprising at all. Argit was just following the natural order of things. Kevin was just curious exactly _how_ it came about. The details.

"Not all that surprised." He returned the lopsided grin with one of his own.

He would have said more -perhaps made a not quite so charming comment about Argit's weight- but he was suddenly and abruptly shoved to the side by an excited Kenny who pounced happily on the president. "Uncle Argit!"

"Oof!" Argit took a couple steps back to avoid falling over completely. He ruffled the kid's hair affectionately. "Hi, Kenny, still a little delinquent in training, I see."

Devlin was not far behind and he pulled his cousin off the chief of state before his public display of affection caused a scene. "For the love of crap. You're not ten-years-old anymore. Hi, Uncle Argit."

"Devlin." Argit brushed his suit. "Still Kenny's straight-man, I see." Then to Kevin. "I never would have imagined -not in a million years or eleven parallel universes- that _your son_ would be the straight-man, Kev."

Kevin wouldn't have imagined it either and he still wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. But then, he supposed, that was what happens when Gwen raises a kid alone without his disreputable influence. The kid turns out honest, law abiding, _good_. (Also, just a little uptight and high strung.)

The kid in question looked from one adult to the other. "You say that like its a bad thing."

"Oh, no! Not at all!" Argit put an arm around Devlin (or at least, as close to around him as their hight difference would allow). "In fact, the Straight Man is an essential part of many cons. I remember this one time your dad and I-"

"Argit." Kevin cut him off with a dangerous look. As fun as it might be to reminisce about their past exploits, his relationship with his son was still indistinct and undefined. He knew Devlin did not approve of his past… _occupations_ , and so he wasn't sure whether or not it would hinder their father-son development for Devlin to be regaled with tales of his father's less than reputable misadventures.

"Then again, it was a boring job anyway. Excuse me, I see one of my constituents." He brushed past them, the Techadons silently following him like clonking, cumbersome sentinels.

"Aw… I wanted to hear the story." Kenny whined. "Uncle Argit has the best stories. There was this one time, he and a partner of his were selling weapons to both sides of this war. They were making a lot of money from it too. But then Uncle Argit had a change of heart and thought they should make peace -cause it was the right thing to do. So he gave them a common enemy by blowing up a statue of their prophet and blaming it on someone else who happened to be on the planet at the same time. The two sides united against him instead and now they're one people. That's how Uncle Argit saved the people of Zabin. …That's also why the people of Zabin hate my dad."

"That's not what happened!" Kevin exclaimed before he could stop himself. It was true that he, Argit, Ben and Gwen had gone to a war-torn planet after receiving a little girl's call for aid, and yes, he and Argit did run the scam of selling identical weapons to both sides, and yes, a statue was destroyed, and yes, the people of that world united against Ben. But Argit being an altruistic hero and ending the con for moralistic reasons, and trying to stop the war? No. Just no. Nope, nope, nope.

Devlin raised one suspicious eyebrow. "Let me guess, you would know that because you were the partner who was running the arms scam. Right? I'm right, aren't I."

Was that judgment in the kid's voice? Yup. That was definitely judgment. "It doesn't matter." Kevin tried to sound casual. "It was so long ago. Heck! I was _your age_ back then!"

"I've never broken the law, manipulated, or taken advantage of people." Devlin reminded him.

It was at that point in the conversation that Gwen excused herself from the foreign dignitary she was talking to and glided over to their conversation. "I hope you boys are playing nice."

"He scared Uncle Argit away." Kenny pointed to Kevin.

While at the exact same time, Devlin demanded, "Did you know he was selling weapons to both sides of the Zabinean Civil War?"

For half a second Gwen looked exasperated, but it quickly morphed into just plain annoyance, before settling on stern maternal command. "You two, this is not like the parities we host at the Headquarters. You can't just sit with Argit for hours and listen to him embellish stories that might or might not be true. And if you're going to get into a moral debate with someone you have to keep it shallow and superficial. Nobody here really cares if Kevin deserved the Pardon or not, all they care about is how supporting it might further their careers. _Everyone_ here is one version or another of a grifter, thief, or con artist."

That's politics. Gwen couldn't wait to get home.

Kenny looked disappointed. Devlin looked put in his place.

"Now why don't you two open up negotiations with the buffet table." She linked arms with Kevin. "I'll babysit this one for a while."

They boys went to get snacks. Gwen steered Kevin to the edge of the party.

They got maybe six feet before someone turned around and flagged them down.

"Ducking out already?" Another couple turned around and Kevin recognized them as Helen and Manny.

Two decades ago they had been Plumbers' Helpers and worked with Kevin, Gwen and Ben on several occasions. When Devlin was born and Kevin went on his quest (read: destructive rampage) across the universe to find a way to cure his son of the mutant form Kevin passed to him, they threw their lot in with Ben and helped try to bring him down. They weren't very successful and Kevin might have tried to absorb one or two of them (or all four), but they couldn't still be mad about that, right? It was sixteen years ago after all. And it wasn't like it was the first time Kevin had ever gone nutty and tried to absorb them. It should be water under the bridge. Or, at least water near a bridge.

"Oh, hi, guys… I haven't seen you since…" Kevin didn't know what to say.

"Since Ryjell IV when you left Helen, me, Pierce and Alan drained, unconscious and half dead on a space station with no gravity." Manny finished for him.

"Yeah… that… Um. You look good." Kevin ventured. Certainly they both looked better than the last time he'd seen them. Much more alive and not floating unconscious in zero-G.

"Ya know, I spent a long time thinking about what I was gonna say to you if I ever saw you again." Manny's four Tetramand eyes narrowed at him. "About a decade ago, I finally figured it out. I'm glad I'm getting the chance to say this…" Then his expression did a complete one-eighty, his eyes softening into compassion. "I get it, man. I totally get it, I'd have done something similar for my little girl. Maybe not… maybe not as dramatic as what you did, but we do what we have to for our kids. Am I right?"

Kevin was completely taken aback. "Uh… uh, yeah! You've got a kid now?"

At his side, Kevin felt Gwen smile and interlace her fingers with his.

Helen also smiled and pulled a wallet from her purse. "A daughter. She'll be ten this summer."

They showed him a photo of a small but thick-built child with blue skin and four arms, a Kineceleran tail and Tetramand feet, four eyes and an elongated skull. Definitely a Kineceleran-Tetramand hybrid. Kevin couldn't imagine how the power-set would work, or if she even inherited any speed or strength abilities from her parents at all, but at least she looked more balanced and well formed than Devlin had looked when he was a baby. That just wasn't fair!

"She looks… very well put together." Kevin finally said. "You must be very proud."

"We are." Helen smiled. "We actually didn't think we could have a baby -both being half-human and all- most inter-species hybrids are sterile. She's our miracle girl." If anyone wanted to take a moment to pause on that thought, they didn't get a chance to because Helen quickly changed the subject and continued. "Anyway, wow, sixteen years, huh! You've missed so much! Lets see… Manny and I got married and had a baby, Pierce now teaches at the Weekend Academy -actually, he's the Principal. You know about the Weekend Academy, right? Both Devlin and Kenny go there."

"I've heard about the Academy." Kevin confirmed.

Helen nodded. "Well, my brother runs it now. Cooper used to teach there too up until just last week. Something happened, but he won't talk about it with any of us. Oh! And Cooper and Gwen have been- uh…" She paused noticing Kevin and Gwen's interlocked hands. "Uh… ya know, never mind about Cooper and Gwen. You don't wanna hear that right after getting out. Lets talk about Alan! You won't believe who he's dating now!"

"If you mean Gwen and Cooper were dating for the last year, I know about that." Kevin put her at ease. Gwen was his again and so Kevin wasn't threatened in the least about her seeking other male companionship back when he wasn't around to provide it. She was human after all -mostly human- and women had needs.

"Cooper and I broke up last weekend." Gwen informed them. "Around the same time he resigned his position at the Weekend Academy."

"But he was gonna propose!" Helen exclaimed.

"He had a ring and everything." Manny added.

"He did." Gwen confirmed. "But it wouldn't have been fair to him if I married him when I was still in love with someone else." A sideways glance at Kevin. "So we broke-up. -And some other stuff happened."

There was a pregnant pause.

"Its funny how that coincidentally just so happened to coincide with Kevin being released from the Null Void." Manny observed.

This comment received nothing but awkward and uncomfortable laughs from Kevin and Gwen. The truth was that after Gwen rejected Cooper's proposal, he went a little off the deep end. But then, that's what happens when you obsess over the same woman for your entire life. When you finally realize the fact that she'll never return your feelings the way you want, you have a small psychotic break-down, kidnap her son, use him as bait to lure her into a trap, use her as a battery to power a super-weapon, and try to kill her ex-con ex-husband.

In the end, Gwen decided not to press charges or pursue the matter any more than it had already been dealt with -much to Devlin's loud and vehement protests. It was just Cooper after all. They were friends. Besides, it wasn't like that was the first time a boyfriend had ever flipped and gone nutty on her. What was one psychotic break among friends? Water near a bridge.

But Kevin didn't want Cooper around his kid anymore. And since Kevin could think of many, many, many ways of torturing a person for days without allowing them the escape of death, Cooper did the honorable thing and resigned his teaching position at the Weekend Academy.

"Ahem. Yeah. Funny that." Kevin coughed.

There was a second pause, this one more awkward than the first.

"So…"

Then Gwen spotted someone in the crowd. "Oh no…"

"What?" Kevin followed her gaze. He didn't recognize the woman, but the man on her arm he certainly did. It was Alan Albright. "Its just Alan. What's the problem?"

"Its not Alan she's 'oh no'ing about." Helen informed him. "Its his date. That's Kai Green, Ben's first wife."

"Wait, _first_ wife?" Kevin blinked in confusion. "That can't be right because I don't recognize that chick at all and…" he cast his gaze around, looking for the boys. When he spotted them still by the buffet table he pointed to Kenny. " _That_ kid is almost the same age as my son. There couldn't have been enough _time_ for Tennyson to meet some new girl and have a kid."

Gwen placed a hand on his shoulder and said in her 'lets be emotionally sympathetic voice', "Ben was in a bad place after you were sentenced. He'd just lost his best friend, Julie broke up with him, I was to busy with Devlin to comfort him and… well, Kai is an old friend from when we were kids. When she reentered our lives I guess he just kind of latched onto her -emotional dependency is what its called. One thing lead to another and then there was Kenny and then there was a wedding."

"And then there was a divorce and then Julie again." Manny finished the narrative. "Good thing Julie's not here too."

"I should go run interference." Gwen disentangled herself from Kevin and wove her way through the crowd to Alan and Kai.

"We should try and detour Alan and Kai." Helen suggested.

Kevin was left standing alone on the edge of a party full of people he didn't know. Senators and Representatives. Corporate executives and industry titans. It like a salad of every one of Kevin's favorite types of marks from his con-man days.

He watched a congressman and his assistant as they chatted with a banker. The congressman's hand slowly drifted to the small of his assistant's back but she made no move to deter him -they were sleeping together, the perfect mark for a straightforward and simple blackmail. The banker's suit looked nice, but his watch was a counterfeit and his shoes weren't quite as shiny as everyone else's -he was down on his luck and in need of quick cash, a good mark for the Fiddle Game con.

Idly, Kevin found half his mind planning out set-ups for each. While the other half of his brain reprimanded him, reminding him that this sort of thing would only damage his already tenuous and fragile relationship with his son. He really should go straight.

But that thought brought up the question of what _was_ he going to do now that he was out. Find a real job or something? Who in their right mind would hire Kevin 11,000 for… _anything!?_ Maybe he should just find a hobby to occupy his time if nothing else. A legal hobby.

"Barely even out and already up to your old tricks, eh Kevin?" A man Kevin did not recognize slithered up next to him. He looked mostly human, although he carried obvious alien traits that would definitely set him apart from a crowd (not _this_ crowd, mind you, but _a_ crowd). With pale orange skin and a large head. A thin face with a sharp goatee , narrow red eyes, high cheek bones and pointed ears. His features were very distinct and Kevin was sure he would have recognized the man if they'd met before.

So, it was understandable that he was confused by how familiar the man seemed to be with him. "Do I know you?"

"Of course you wouldn't remember me." He said as if this should have been obvious. "But I'm very familiar with you. Hector Servantis, pleased to remake your acquaintance."

The name did not ring any bells. But for some reason, Kevin got the sudden feeling of wanting to be anywhere else but there with Servantis. As a general rule, Kevin had excellent instincts about people. One had to if they were going to be a good con artist or a good contraband dealer. You needed to know how to feel out cops, Plumbers, and Feds just as well as feeling out your customers or marks. Misjudge someone and you could end up in prison -or dead. "What do you want?"

"To offer you a position, actually." He shrugged casually. "Your particular ability is hard to find and its something I could use."

"Not interested." Kevin didn't even have to think about it. There was just something about this guy that made every fiber of his being scream ' _run! run away and never look back!'_.

"I would consider it if I were you." He insisted. "The work's interesting and I guarantee the pay will be good. And besides… who else would hire someone with your infamous reputation?"

"You haven't even said what the job is." Kevin pointed out.

He chuckled at that. "Ah, sorry. Ahm. Back when you were a Plumber, you were aware of specialized teams, yes? Well, I'm putting together one of those specialized teams."

Now it was Kevin's turn to chuckle, a dark ironic sound from the back of his throat. "Man, you must be more naive than Tennyson over there if you think the Plumbers will take me back after what I pulled."

"I'm allowed certain liberties and freedoms for putting together this team."

"Pssh, sure." Kevin scoffed. He heard enough. Not only did this guy make him edgy, but he wasn't even a good con. Everyone knows that when you spin a story you gotta make it believable. No Plumbers organization would ever give him his badge back. It was pure fantasy. Servantis was nothing more than a liar -and not even a very good one at that. "If you'll excuse me, it looks like my buddy Benji's about to get bitch-slapped and I don't wanna miss it."

Kevin walked away.

Sevantis waited until he was out of ear-shot before rolling up the sleeve of his suit to reveal a device on his wrist. He on switched the com. "Well, you were right. He didn't take the offer."

"Told you he wouldn't." Said a female voice on the other end. "Probably better off without him anyway. He's probably gone soft rotting in that cell for the past sixteen years."

"I respectfully disagree." Servantis insisted. "But to put the question to rest, lets test him. Send in Phil. Terroranchula form only, please. He can't be recognized."

It seemed neither Gwen nor Helen and Manny were able to run successful interference between Ben and his ex-wife. By the time Kevin arrived at their particular circle, the two were already facing off; trading insults and arguments while their respective associates tried holding them back. Gwen held one of Ben's arms while Alan's hand was on Kai's shoulder. Devlin and Kenny had also arrived, with the latter looking distressed at finding his parents once again fighting while the former had a supportive arm around him.

"I can't believe you showed up here!" Ben was saying. "I mean, did you really think I wouldn't be at my own best friend's Pardon Ceremony?"

"Oh, would this be the best friend who terrorized the galaxy, nearly killed you, and spent the last two decades in the Null Void? Or the best friend who was your partner for ten years yet somehow never managed to acclimate to Earth culture and finally left you?" Kai shot back.

"You leave Rook out of this!" Ben snapped. Then his eyes focused on Alan. "And _you_ , how could you! I thought we were friends! What are you doing carrying on with _my wife!?_ "

" _Ex-wife!_ " Kai fumed. "And don't be mad at him. I can date whoever I like -you might recall you did the same thing with that little racket bunny of yours!"

"Mom, Dad, please don't fight." Kenny moaned. He looked like he was on the verge of tears as Devlin held him.

"Look, you're making your son cry." Ben snapped.

" _I am!?_ " Her dark eyes went wide. "You're the one who missed nine of his fifteen birthdays! _You deadbeat!_ "

Alright, Kevin had heard enough. As fun as it was to watch Ben's train-wreck relationships play out, that was low. Dragging the kid into the argument -no. There was a lot of shady and un-cool crap Kevin was willing to do, but he had a line. He terrorized half the galaxy for the sake of his own child. When Devlin was born in his monster form, there wasn't anything Kevin wasn't willing to do to make him normal. Because that was what parents were supposed to do. Sacrifice anything for their kids. They protected their kids. They did not use them as ammunition to hurt their partner (or former partner as the case my be).

"Yeah? Well, at least I was around enough to actually get custody! You're always hopping around the world looking for old bones and broken pots! I got a bone for ya-"

"That's enough, you two." Kevin stepped between them. "Hi. Kai, was it? I'm Ben's friend who terrorized the galaxy, nearly killed him, and spent the last sixteen years in the Null Void. You must be ex-wife number one. Pleased to meet you."

Her eyes went wide upon suddenly finding herself face-to-face with one of the most terrifying and infamous monsters to ever rip his way across the galaxy. Kevin found himself wondering if that was how most people were gonna react upon first meeting him from now on.

"Now if you wanna swap stories about Ben's many failings, I'd definitely get in on that action." Kevin continued. "But not right now. Not here. And _definitely_ not in front of the kids."

Out of the corner of his eye, Kevin saw Devlin's body language shift. He went from protective and supportive holding Kenny, to interested and alert paying attention to Kevin. He couldn't decide whether or not that was a good thing. Did Devlin appreciate him stepping and and urging Kai away from fighting with her ex-husband in front of their son? Did he disapprove of his readiness to swap 'everything that's wrong with Ben' stories? Or was he ambivalent to the whole thing and just wanted to see how this would play out?

Either way it didn't matter.

Everyone was distracted when a giant alien monster suddenly tore through the party.

It looked like a Terroranchula except the shape and body proportions were off. Terroranchula were supposed to be gigantic four-legged creatures with the body of a silverfish and the head of a monster-moth. This one, however, had the body of a gorilla and the proportions of a Mr. Universe body builder. A Terroranchula-human hybrid, perhaps? Or at least a Terroranchula- _humanoid_ hybrid. How in the world did that work? Anodites, Kineceleran, Tetramand, and Pyronite mixed with human or humanoid, okay. But Terroranchula? Wut?

Not that anybody really took the time to wonder that particular point. They were all to busy screaming and running for their lives.

"You two wanna put your fight on hold for a sec and fight that instead?" Devlin suggested as he let go of Kenny and shrugged off his suit-jacket.

Kenny's demeanor had likewise changed. He was no longer paying attention to his parents but had instead already started toggling through his own faux-Omnitrix, looking for an alien that would be good against a Terroranchula. It took only a half-second for Ben to follow his son's lead and begin toggling through his own Omnitrix.

Ben's ex-wife, Kai, lifted up her skirt just enough to reveal a garter holster that held what looked like a sword hilt with no blade. For half a second Kevin thought she was gonna whip out a lightsaber. But instead a collapsible blade consisting of four joints unfolded itself and locked.

Gwen, likewise, lifted her skirt, but not to pull a weapon. Gwen didn't need weapons. She ripped her skirt enough to give her legs more freedom of movement. …And it was the hottest thing Kevin had seen her do in sixteen years.

Kevin dropped to his knees, one hand laying palm-flat on the ground to absorb the concrete.

All this happened within a matter of moments nearly as soon as the Terroranchula-hybrid tore into the party. One had to have good reaction time to be a member of Ben's Team.

Devlin was the first to actually jump up and run interference between the monster and the essentially helpless crowd. It wasn't like they could depend on Agrit's Techadon guards to protect them. Argit also had a fast reaction time and had already absconded, taking his robotic super-weapons with him. Devlin picked up a serving tray that was dropped by a fleeing member of the wait staff and frisbie-threw it at the Terroranchula's head.

It didn't hurt the thing, but it did draw the beast's attention.

The Terroranchula rounded on Devlin, and Kevin had a mild heart-attack when he saw that ten-foot-tall monster marching menacingly towards his son. But Devlin had been well trained by Gwen since he was eleven-years-old. The Terroranchula might be larger than him and quite probably stronger than him considering the boy was still in his human form, but Devlin took its momentum and used it to turn the beast's own weight against it. Flipping the Terroranchula in a straight-line judo toss.

It lay on the ground and Devlin didn't waist the opportunity. He climbed onto the Terroranchula's chest. "Buddy, you picked the wrong party to crash."

But the Terroranchula swatted him off like a gnat.

Kenny -in the form of Fourarms- was at his side in moments. "Dude, just transform. You'll get beat-up less."

"I don't want to transform." The kid growled, examining a tear in his white dress-shirt. He hated his mutant-alien form. It was monstrous, and ugly, and the reason why he couldn't have a normal childhood for the first eleven years of his life.

"Well I hope you enjoy getting your butt kicked." The younger Tennyson rolled all four of his Tetramand eyes.

Devlin just glared. There had to be a way for him to fight mutants, monsters, and aliens without turning into a mutant-alien-monster himself.

With the Terroranchula back on its feet, it was the adults turn to try. Kai sliced at its legs, trying to weaken its support and bring the creature back down again. This seemed to only irritate the beast, however, and Kai was likewise swatted away. Alan caught her before she crashed painfully into the ground.

"Ya know, you could go flame on and help." She suggested.

"This is an eight-hundred terran suit." He reminded her. His flame ability would incinerate whatever he was wearing when he went flame on.

Kevin figured it was his turn -since Ben was still toggling through his watch. Really, 10,000 was such an impractical number. The Omnitrix should really come with a search engine if it was gonna keep climbing in numbers like that.

"Gwen, maneuver seven!" Kevin shouted.

He interlaced the fingers of his hand just as Gwen reached him and jumped, using the platform of his hands to propel her higher into the air. Gwen shot mana orb after mana at the Terroranchula as she flew up and over its head, coming down behind his back.

It was nothing more than a distraction tactic. Which gave Kevin the opportunity he needed to get in close and land one cheap sucker punch below the belt. Morphing his concrete fist into a very unfriendly spiked mace, he thrust upwards right into the creatures groin.

Normal Terroranchula did not have genitalia as most humans and humanoid races had, but this particular Terroranchula was more humanoid than was normal. So Kevin took a gamble. …And it looked like he was right.

The Terroranchula went down clutching his crotch in pain.

"That wasn't so hard." Kevin commented.

"That's what she said!" Ben -now in the form of Feedback- took the unintentional set-up.

He and Kevin shared a laugh like nothing had changed between them and the last sixteen years of imprisonment had never happened. "Nice."

"Ugh. Penis jokes, really?" Gwen, Kai, and Helen all had their arms crossed and were glaring disapprovingly at them. "You two aren't children anymore."

"How did that cheap shot even work?" Alan asked.

"Yeah." Manny agreed. "Terroranchula don't have… ya know."

Kevin smirked. It was so rare that he got to -not only be the hero- but also got to be the smart one to give the wrap-up exposition. This was shaping up to be a really fun party. "Didn't you guys notice that this thing doesn't look completely Terroranchula? Its got obvious humanoid traits. So, I figured I had about a fifty-fifty chance of it having that humanoid trait as well."

The Terroranchula gowned through the pain and tried to get back up. But Ben used Feedback's ability to taser it until it fell into proper unconsciousness.

"Well, that was fun!" Kenny commented. "And here I thought this was just gonna be another boring, snooty, grown-up party. Right, Dev?"

"Even without transforming, I ruined my shirt." The older boy lamented.

Alan placed a sympathetic hand on the kid's shoulder. "The struggle is real!"

In an attempt to bring the men back to the business at hand, Kai and Gwen both cleared their throats. "So, what are we gonna do with this thing?"

No sooner had the question been asked, however, than Hector Servantis appeared. He flashed his Plumbers badge with its black spot and said politely, "I believe I can take him off your hands for you. No need for such ladies as lovely as yourselves to get your hands dirty."

He raised his arm and made a gesture with his hand. Two other black-suited, black spotted Plumbers appeared -seemingly out of nowhere, but they must have been lurking somewhere close by if for no other reason than Servantis' gesture was a line-of-sight only communication. They lifted the Terroranchula up and carried him away. He then turned to Kevin.

"I see your skills haven't degraded even after your extended imprisonment." He did a little twist of his wrist and a plain white business card appeared in his hand. "Think about my offer." He was about to leave after his people but paused for a moment, turning to Devlin. "Young man, that was a very impressive toss."

"Uh. thanks."

Servantis shrugged and left.

Kevin turned to the rest of Ben's Team. Members both old and new, formed a semi-circle around where the Terroranchula had been. They were all wondering the same thing. "Who was that guy?"

...


	2. Handle Anything

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Roots

Chapter Two: Handle Anything

"He said his name was Servantis." Kevin explained in the car ride home. That was about all he knew of the mysterious black-spot level Plumber that had spirited away the Terroranchula-humanoid hybrid after the fight. Just his name. "And he offered me a job."

"His rank is Proctor." Max supplied after it seemed like no one else was going to chime in. "He leads a special operations team based in the Null Void called the 'Rooters'. Their mission -he claims- is to protect the universe from some sort of 'approaching storm', an enemy so powerful no one can defeat it. So he says. But there's not much clarity on who or what this great and terrible enemy is. Ben, you worked with the Rooters before. Do you have anything to add?"

"I did?" Ben was taken aback. "I don't remember working with any black-spotted Plumbers."

"Yes, you did." Max insisted, a little exasperated at his grandson's absentmindedness. "It was sixteen years ago during Kevin's rampage. I remember because you called me specifically to ask if you could trust Servantis to help you take Kevin down without _putting_ him down."

"You can say 'without killing him', Grandpa." Devlin informed his great-grandfather. "We're all mature enough to handle a four letter word. Uncle Ben was afraid the Rooters would kill Kevin."

"Right." Max nodded. "Anyway, Ben, I told you that you could trust Servantis to do what was his own best interest. The Rooters are Plumbers, that makes them technically part of the good guys, but they've skated over the regulations and the oath several times and are overall pretty ambiguous when it comes to moral judgment. They would help you take Kevin down, but once he was down it would be anybody's guess what they did with him after."

"I don't remember this at all." Ben swore.

"Me either." Kevin added.

"Yes, but you weren't exactly in your right state of mind at the time." Gwen reminded him. "Its understandable for _you_ to have holes in your memory."

The car pulled into the hangar of the Plumber's Headquarters in Bellwood and they all filed out.

"Look, I'm not denying that I was a few screws short of a chop-shop back then." Kevin was saying as he climbed out of the car and -very gentlemanly- offered Gwen his hand to help her out. "But generally, even when I am nutty like that, I tend to remember people who try to kill me -'cause I don't take kindly to people who try to kill me."

"That's assuming he _did_ try to kill you." Gwen pointed out. Grandpa did say that Servantis (and by extension the Rooters) didn't always follow the rules and instead acted in their own best interest, that wasn't the same as saying they tried to kill Kevin 11,000. Killing might have been on the menu, but that didn't mean it was the main course.

Devlin cleared his throat. "As fun as this is, listening to you all debate sixteen-year-old conspiracies, Kenny and I are already late for the Weekend Academy. So we're gonna change, grab our stuff, and go."

At his side, Kenny tugged on the ripped part of Devlin's formerly-white dress shirt. "Uh, Dev, are you sure you wanna go this weekend? I mean, I get that becoming a Plumber is important to you and all, but… um. Maybe this weekend we could stay home and, uh, _not_ go to the Academy?"

"Why?" Devlin looked affronted. Intentionally stay home and be truant from the Weekend Academy? What crazy talk is this!?

"Because." And Kenny's eyes did _not_ instantly snap to Kevin before returning to look at Devlin. He cleared his throat and shuffled his feat -still not looking at Kevin at all. Nope. Kevin had nothing to do with this. "Because… of… _the reason_!"

Kenny might not have been looking at Kevin, but upon finishing his (admittedly vague and flimsy) reasoning, everyone else's attention turned towards the former terrorist-conman-arms dealer. Yeah. How were people gonna take it having the son of Kevin 11,000 attending a Plumbers' Academy? True, Devlin had been in attendance at the Weekend Academy for over a year now, but that was before Kevin 11,000 was released, back when he was just an unfortunate event in the not-to-distant past. Now he was out and about and forcing people to confront the fact that danger was still very much alive and real.

There was a beat of silence.

" _I_ am going to the Academy." Devlin announced after the prolonged pause. "At the very least, I want to talk to Magister Wheels to see if fighting that Terroranchula-whatever can count towards my field experience hours. It'll be nice to get a head-start on the hours requirement before I even get to senior year. _You_ can stay home if you want to."

Devlin left the hangar.

There was another beat of silence.

Then Kenny sighed and followed his cousin out the hanger. "Devlin, wait. I won't let you go alone."

Because that was the way they were. Devlin held, supported, and protected Kenny in his moments of weakness and vulnerability when his parents dragged him in to use as munition in their fights, and Kenny guarded and protected Devlin from their classmates and peers when they decided they had a bone to pick with the son of Kevin 11,000. They guarded and supported each other. That's what they did. They might technically be cousins, but in all practicality, they were brothers.

The boys were out of earshot not even a full minute before Ben snarled a wordless snarl and ran his ringers though his graying hair in frustration. "Grr! Where does Alan get off! Dating my wife! What the kriffing heck!? Has he never heard of the Bro Code!? I mean, Kevin, how would you feel if you got out of the Null Void and found out I was dating Gwen?"

Kevin just raised an eyebrow at the sheer absurdity of the idea. "Does this scenario take place in an alternate reality where you're not first cousins?"

"Bad example." Ben snapped. "Gwen, what if Kevin and I started dating?"

A smile of pure sadistic amusement spread across her lips. "I'd make you let me watch of course! Even in his forties now, Kevin's pretty hot, and you're not so terrible yourself. Kevin would top, though, right? Otherwise I'm not interested."

"Well, I sure as heck not gonna go bottom! Not for Tennyson here." Kevin smirked, adding his own layer to the joke. "You don't mind a little hair-pulling do ya, Bennie old buddy?"

Kevin and Gwen shared a laugh at the utterly and completely horrifying shade of red, then purple Ben turned. "Ya know, I can't deal with you two right now. Go have sex in a car and don't come back until you're ready to act like adults." He stormed out of the hanger as well. "Kriffing rabbits!"

Gwen and Kevin continued to laugh until Ben was well out the room. After a few moments they calmed down.

"Although…" Gwen began thoughtfully. "I am curious what Ally thinks of her dad dating Kenny's mom. Should be interesting…"

"Why? Who's Ally?"

"Alicia Albright. Alan's daughter. She's in Kenny and Devlin's class at the Weekend Academy. Her mother passed away a few years ago. She fell onto a lathe."

Kevin winced. That was not a pretty way to go. He spent most of his life fighting aliens, mutants, and monsters, but still… being beaten to death was still prettier than having your flesh flayed from your bones my any of the many moving parts of a lathe. It was not the kind of industrial machine you wanted to fall on.

"Alan was heart broken for a long time. Its nice to see him out there and dating again. I don't care what Ben says, I hope he and Kai work out. They could be good for each other."

"Uh-huh…" Kevin nodded. It was hard for him to rustle up some sympathy or even just an opinion. He had worked with Alan a couple times over the years, sure. But they were never really friends. Alan never did forgive Kevin for draining him of his power and leaving him half-dead in his own corn field. …and then again about a decade later at the Ryjell space station when he drained Helen, Pierce, Manny, and Alan and left them all half-dead floating in zero-gravity. It was a little hard to feel sorry for a guy who very probably hated your guts (even if he did have every reason to). "But why do you care what the daughter thinks?"

"Because Ally and Kenny like each other." Gwen explained. "But you can't talk to them about it because Kenny's still convinced that girls have cooties and Ally thinks Kenny is an idiot."

From what Kevin had seen of Ben's brat so far, he was inclined to agree with Alan's daughter. But then again, Kevin wasn't exactly the most un-bias of observers. Anything that sprang from Ben's loins must have something wrong with it because it came from Ben. Just like anything that came from Gwen had to be spectacular because it came from Gwen. Kenny was flawed and Devlin was perfect and that was just the way of things in Kevin's mind.

But he didn't want to talk about what their acquaintances had been doing these past sixteen years that he'd been gone. He was out of the Null Void and free, there was a lifetime to catch up on all that. Right now Kevin was in the mood for something else.

"So… sex in a car?" Ben had been the one to suggest it, after all. It was Ben 10,000 approved.

"Stay the heck away from my ride!" Devlin reentered the hanger, a small duffle bag thrown over one shoulder. He had changed out of his ripped suit and dress shirt and was instead wearing perfectly serviceable denim jeans -black- and a t-shirt -also black.

"It was mine first." Kevin reminded the boy as he watched Devlin throw his duffle in the back seat. "I built her from the frame up! She's not just a car she's… she's… She's you big sister!"

Behind Kevin, Gwen face palmed. Oh, yeah, this was gonna go well.

There was a beat of silence in which Kevin and Devlin did nothing but stare at one another.

Then, "Okay. What's her name?"

"What?" Kevin blinked.

"Well, if she's one of your children then you must have given her a name." Devlin explained in his best 'I'm being reasonable and humoring you' voice. "What's my big sister's name?"

"Well, I…" And Kevin realized that he never really did do that guy thing where you name your car, your gun, your whatever. His ride didn't have a name. Unless… "Her name's Ride!"

Behind Kevin, Gwen groaned.

Devlin just smiled in triumph. "You didn't even name her. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Well, _I_ did! Her name's Lexie and she's _my_ baby now. And the first rule for Lexie is no sex in the back seat. Or the front seat. Or the hood. In fact, no sex near her at all. She's a very sensitive and impressionable girl. You two can take your weird kinks somewhere else. You're not welcome here." Then, raising his voice to shout down the corridor, "Oy! Kenny, are you ready yet! If it gets any later we'll miss last call in the Mess."

Neither of his parents mentioned that the boys could have dinner here at home before rushing off to the Academy. Devlin seemed quite determined to get there as soon as possible. Perhaps to put some distance (literal as well as metaphorical) between himself and the newly freed Kevin 11,000. To prove to the world -or maybe just himself- that he did not inherit any of his father's evil or insane tendencies.

"I'm comin'. I'm comin'." Kenny grumbled as he threw his own duffle into the backseat and climbed into the passenger side.

The green and black GTO Judge folded its tired underneath itself as it levitated off the ground and shot out of the hanger to merge into the city's hover-lanes.

Kevin sighed. "I'm never gonna get my car back, am I?"

"Nope." Gwen shook her head.

"I'm gonna end up having to build a new car."

"Yup." Gwen nodded. "So…" She began now that the kids were gone. "Sex in _my_ car?"

Neither of them bothered to remind the other that there was a perfectly serviceable bed in Gwen's room. They had used that this morning, but beds were boring.

…

Swift moved the stethoscope from Phil's chest to his back, listening to his breathing and heart-rate, making sure there were no lasting effects from Feedback's taxer-shock. Leander came up and offered their injured colleague a bag of ice for his groin. Phil snarled wordlessly at the silent Prypiatosian-B hybrid and snatched the ice bag out of his hands. Servantis paced back and forth, observing. He did a great deal of that.

"He's fine." Swift concluded as she packed away the stethoscope and other medical supplies.

"I am _not_ fine!" Phil snarled, clutching the ice to his injured and throbbing crotch. "I swear, the next time I see that long-haired piece of-"

"You will leave Kevin alone." Sevantis commanded. He stopped his pacing and glared directly into Phil's eyes.

There was a beat of silence. Then Phil raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to use your Jedi mind tricks on me? Because I don't think they're working."

"No." Servantis assured him. "I'm just hoping you have the sense to follow a direct order when it is given. But if you prefer I use my abilities on you -I can." Phil didn't need to say anything, the expression on his face was enough to confirm he would follow the order -at least until the main objective was achieved. Servantis turned his attention to Swift with a smile. "I trust your satisfied with Kevin's abilities to preform in a fight."

"Aw, heck, all he did was sucker-punch Phil in the dick. That's not difficult." She waved, dismissing the comment. "That kid on the other hand. The one Kevin went wacky for way back when. He was pretty spry."

"Yes…" Servantis agreed slowly. "Phillip, does your nephew still have a child at the Weekend Academy?"

The Terroranchula-human hybrid paused to think for a moment. It wasn't like he kept in regular touch with his family or stayed up-to-date on their lives. The Rooters didn't exactly allow for time for that. But, still… "I think so. Yeah! Dylan. Dylan Billings. Senior year. He'll be turning eighteen and aging up into the real Academy soon."

"When you're feeling better, would you extend an invitation to young Dylan for me?" Servantis phrased it as a question, but all the Rooters knew a command when they heard one. "Tell him it would count for double his required field hours he can put towards graduating."

…

Dinner was in full swing by the time Kenny and Devlin arrived at the Weekend Academy, the Mess Hall was still full of cadets and full of the chatter and noise of activity. Forks scraped plates, plates clinked, people talked or laughed. All of it swirling together into one big _susurus_ of noise.

The room went silent, however, when Devlin entered.

It started with one person. She was talking to her friend and when her eyes registered him, she cut off mid-sentence. Then her friend looked up and followed her eyes to she what was so distracting and she too froze. Like an invisible wave starting from the door and making its way to the far wall, a hush fell over the crowd.

At Devlin's side, Kenny heaved a sigh. "Yup. This is gonna go well…"

After all, there wasn't a person alive on Earth who wasn't glued to a smart phone. Even if they didn't watch the Pardon Ceremony on the news themselves they would have heard about it on Twitter, Spacebook, Tumblr, Buzz Feed, or whatever. That was the thing with Big News. People didn't actually have to watch it themselves to know about it, Big News had a life of its own. Big News traveled through the very air. And the release and Pardon of Kevin 11,000 was Big News.

For the last year these cadets had attended the Weekend Academy right along side the son of Kevin 11,000 and yeah, they knew who he was. But it was different. Kevin himself was a thing of the past. Locked up in the Null Void, a pocket detention that existed next to, but apart from their own reality, a prison from which there wasn't supposed to be any escape. So, when the son of Kevin 11,000 was in one of your classes, it was weird or whatever, but a person didn't lose to much sleep over it. But now that Kevin was out, suddenly he didn't seem so long ago and far away anymore. He wasn't an 'old people's problem', he was a possibility of very real and present danger. …and Devlin Tennyson was his son.

The question on everyone's minds now was… ' _How far from the tree did that apple fall?_ '

Devlin, for his part, made an effort not to notice everyone's cautious stares. He'd attended Academy with these people for a whole year already, if they didn't realize he was harmless by now they never would. -Except that he wasn't harmless, he managed to beat his opponent at every combat exercise he ever participated in- but that was beside the point! Head held high, refusing to look ashamed or show any weakness, Devlin crossed the Mess and picked up a tray. Kenny wasn't far behind him, if there was one thing that motivated the boy more than protecting his older cousin, it was food.

The two looked around for a place to sit but saw nothing and nobody looked like they were about to scooch over and make room for the son of Kevin 11,000.

Then a young black girl, closer to Kenny's age than Devlin's stood up.

"You're all jerks!" She informed the Mess as she crossed the space between her table and the boys. She grabbed both Kenny and Devlin by their shirts and dragged them over to her table. "You can sit with me."

She shoved them down at her table -they were the only boys there. All of her companions scooted away a bit -under the pretense of making room, of course. But everyone knew it was really to try and put as much distance as possible between themselves and the son of Kevin 11,000.

"Thanks, Ally!" Kenny smiled a goofy grin at her before launching into his food.

Devlin looked behind him and found the table where they usually sat. He made eye-contact with each of the boys there, holding their gaze until each one looked away first before he turned his attention to his meal. Only Billings challenged him back, refusing to be intimidated by the son of Kevin 11,000.

Dylan Billings and Devlin had never gotten along, not since the first training excesses they had together. But it was a silent rivalry. Neither one of them would challenge the other openly, for fear of being expelled from the Academy and they both knew it. So, while they might circle each other and growl, nothing would ever come from their animosity. Not unless they were given an arena free of the rules and expectations of the Academy. Finally, Devlin gave up, deciding it wasn't worth it. Let Billings win the staring contest this round. He turned his attention to his food and his thoughts to bigger problems.

As nice as it was to finally have the chance to get to know his father now and actually get some real and proper training with his powers, it was becoming clear that having Kevin back was actually going to make life -overall- more difficult for Devlin.

He poked at his food, not really all that hungry.

"We saw your dad at the Pardon Ceremony." Kenny was telling Ally. "How long has your dad been dating my mom? Why didn't you warn me?"

Ally cringed awkwardly. "Heh, uh, yeah… Funny that. It started innocent enough. My dad found a rock in one of his fields that looked kinda like an axe head and so he called your mom to come and take a look at it. He didn't want to be ploughing through some ancient Native American burial ground. One thing lead to another and instead of having coffee and talking about rocks and artifacts, they were just having coffee."

"What are we gonna do?" Kenny whined. "What if they fall in love? What if they get married!? That would make you and I brother and sister!"

Devlin snorted over his plate. Of course that would be the thing Kenny was really upset about. Not that nobody warned him that his mother was dating one of this father's friends, or that they would both be at the Pardon Ceremony. No. It was that if their parents kept dating, and if they fell in love, and if they got married, then Kenny and Ally would become siblings. Step-siblings, of course, but still siblings.

"We say something funny, Dev?" Ally asked.

"Hilarious." Devlin grinned a mocking grin at the both of them.

He might have said more, but the noise and den of the Mess was split by the Magister's shout. "Fake-Tennyson! My office. Now!"

For the second time since arriving, every eye in the Mess turned to stare at Devlin. With a groaning sigh, he stood from the table, deposited his tray of untouched food, and followed Magister Wheels out.

Pierce Wheels' office looked more like something one would have in their private home rather than a formal institution. Both Devlin and Kenny had been in the office many times since they started attending the weekend Academy one year ago. Devlin had been surprised to find it carpeted with an Ikea throw-rug, comfy looking armchairs. He would have expected a Magister's office to look more spartan, practical and bare.

But photos lined the walls and crowded the desk -not all of them Academy or even Plumbers related photos. Personal photos, family portraits. One in particular featuring Magister Wheels himself, standing next to a Kineceleran female and a Tetramand male -his sister Helen and her then partner now husband Manny. Next to this photo was one of a hybrid child. One with blue skin and four arms. Helen and Manny's daughter. Pierce was a very proud uncle.

Devlin ignored these as he entered the office. He had seen them all before on his many, many return trips to this office. It seemed impossible for him to go even one weekend without being called in for one reason or another. The thing he just never could seem to figure out was if it was because he was the son of an infamous terrorist and criminal and Magister Wheels felt he needed to be watched closely, or if he really was just a bad kid. Devlin didn't think of himself as a bad kid.

Devlin clasped his arms behind his back, spreading his stance slightly -an acceptable parade rest. "You wanted to see me, sir."

Pierce did not take his seat behind the desk as he usually did during their chats. Instead, as soon as the door was closed behind them, Pierce turned around and placed what Devlin assumed was supposed to be a strong supportive hand on his shoulder. "Devlin, how are you holding up? I heard about Kevin and after what you told me last week, I wanted to check in and see how you're doing."

Ah. That's right. Devlin cringed inwardly.

During the previous weekend, Magister Wheels had invited him into his office and during their talk Devlin let slip that he hated his father and wanted nothing to do with him. If he remembered his own words correctly, he said… _'I'd rather be a fake Tennyson than a real Levin!'_ Or something like that.

That was only a day (maybe two) before he and Uncle Ben went and let Kevin out of the Null Void to help them rescue his mom. Since then, Devlin came to terms with and admitted to himself that he doesn't actually hate his father. That the shame, frustration, and resentment he feels isn't really directed at Kevin so much as at the way their association darkens people's perceptions of him. The way everyone acted towards him in the Mess being a prime example of this. People shunned him because he was the son of Kevin 11,000.

But that was no more Kevin's fault than it was Devlin's and Devlin didn't hate Kevin for it… Well, okay, maybe he did _blame_ Kevin for it just a little. But that didn't change the fact that Devlin was actually glad of the chance to meet his father and when it was over, when his mother was home safe and it was time for Kevin to be put back in the Null Void, Devlin realized that he didn't want his father to go. In a cathartic release, he confessed to himself as much to the family that he wanted Kevin to stay. That he wanted his father to teach him how to absorb matter and any other important Osmosian things. That they should work on his car together and other normal father-son crap.

Actually, a lot happened between last weekend and this one and Devlin's perceptions and opinions of his father had changed.

"You don't have to worry about that, sir." Devlin assured the Magister. "Kevin and I have come to an understanding. As you said, I'd never met my father before and I couldn't really say I hated him without knowing him first."

Pierce raised an eyebrow. "And now…?"

Devlin paused for a moment, thinking back on this past week with Kevin. Since releasing him on Monday they had saved his mother, defeated a giant robot together, examined Devlin's plans to convert his car to make it space-worthy, and had two lessons in matter absorption. All and all, Kevin wasn't really that bad. But then Devlin remembered that he also interrupted the household dynamic, threw off everyone's schedules, and made demands on his mothers time that sometimes took her away from Devlin. Kevin might not be evil, but he was still far from perfect.

"He… takes some getting used to." Devlin said at last.

Pierce laughed. A true and clear sound of amusement. "'He takes some getting used to'. Oh man, if that isn't the truth! Ah-ha, ha!"

"Sir?" Devlin asked.

Pierce cleared his throat. "Yeah. Kevin can be a little rough around the edges and yeah, he takes some getting used to. …and sometimes he can swing off the deep end and go a little nutty, terrorize the galaxy, absorb his friends, and leave them floating mostly-dead in an abandoned space station…" He paused for a second. "There was a 'but' to this, but I seem to have lost it."

Gee, that sure made Devlin feel better about his father. "Sir, if there's nothing else-"

Clearing his throat, Pierce returned to business. "Anyway, now that Kevin's out and about and in the news again. That means you are gonna be getting more attention than usual as well. I just wanna ask if you're gonna be okay."

"I'll be fine." Devlin assured him, not quite sure yet if he was lying or not. "I can handle anything."

...


	3. Memories

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Roots

Chapter Three: Memories

The house looked almost exactly the same as the last time he'd seen it, almost. The lawn wasn't as diligently mowed, the grass just a bit taller than Kevin would have left it, there were a few placed on the porch railing that looked like they could do with a bit or repairs, and everything needed a new coat of paint. This was all regular maintenance that Kevin would have handled himself if he hadn't been trapped in the Null Void for the past sixteen years. Without him around, it fell into disrepair. But other than that, the house was the same.

At his side, Gwen squeezed his hand supportively. "You think you're ready for this?"

His answer was to take a deep breath and let it out slowly before ringing the bell.

The door opened to reveal an elderly woman with short straight hair that at one time was very very dark but over the decades had lightened to more of a steely gray. She had more frown lines than he remembered, they gave her chin and mouth a stern, sever look she never had before. But there were new crows feet and smile lines there too. She got old. But then, that's what people do. But her eyes were exactly the same. The same dark almond shaped eyes that she had passed on to her son.

"Hi, Mom." Kevin began. "I know its been a while, but I-"

"You're a _puhtz_!" Leah Levin snapped at him before she grabbed her son by the ear and dragged him inside. Then over her shoulder, she called, "Gwen, dear, come on in. Did you bring my grandson with you?"

"No. Its just us, Leah." Gwen closed the door behind her and smiled, amused by just how helpless Kevin looked. "Devlin's at the Weekend Academy again."

Releasing Kevin -whom fell onto the living room couch clutching his injured ear- the older woman heaved a sigh. "I swear, I never get to see that boy anymore since he enrolled in that Academy. Not unless its Mother's Day or his birthday."

Because Devlin was born over the winter holidays when even the Academy would be out of session.

"He's at that age where he's trying to distance himself from his elders." Gwen explained, sitting down on the couch next to Kevin. "All children go through it at some point."

"At least you got to watch him grow up, Mom." Kevin reminded her. This, however, only earned him a dirty look from his mother.

"You made your bad decisions, Kevin." Leah reminded him. "Now you have to live with the consequences. If you didn't want to miss your son's life then you shouldn't have flown through the galaxy attacking aliens who had nothing to do with you, stealing powers you had no right to, and trying to absorb a baby Celestialsapian. You made your bed."

"Yes, Mom." He averted his eyes.

"But I'm still glad you're back." She reassured him.

"Thanks, Mom."

Gwen smiled. This little mother-son reunion actually went better than she was expecting. But then again, Kevin was Leah's only child and she had more experience with his powers and his tantrums than any other being on Earth. She had her home destroyed with by him or because of him more than once. It was safe to say that she was used to it by now. Gwen stood. "Well, now that we've got that out of the way, the plan was to go out for a nice family brunch. So, Leah, where do you want us to take you?"

"Pff." The older woman scoffed. "Why go out and pay to eat when I've got plenty of food here? I've been cooking since I woke up this morning." Leah also stood. "Kevin you can set the table -I assume you remember which plates are _fleishik_. Gwen, dear, you can help me in the kitchen."

Brunch went rather well, actually. At least, the first half of it did.

Kevin almost cried when his mother served lamb. He was still getting used to being allowed to eat real food now that he was free, instead of the sticks of processed nutrients that were fed to him in his isolation cell. Lamb, steamed vegetables, roast potatoes… it was so good! Kevin didn't remember his mother being this good a cook. Then again, after sixteen years in Incarceration, even Max's weird alien food might taste good.

They ate in an awkward silence for a while. None out of the three of them knowing exactly what to say.

"The food's great, Mom!" Kevin ventured.

"Thank you, sweetheart." Leah responded.

More silence.

"Maybe now that Kevin's back he can replace the porch railing." Gwen suggested.

"Yeah. Just call me over any time." Kevin nodded. It wasn't like he had a lot of other demands on his time now that he was free. The only thing that might take priority over helping out his mother would be constructing a new set of wheels since Devlin seemed unwilling to part with his original ride.

"I'll do that." Leah nodded.

More silence.

"So…"

Then Leah slammed her fork down on the table. "I still can't believe you did that to Gwen! What's wrong with you?"

"Wait, what?" Kevin blinked at his mother.

"I mean, really, Kevin! She just had your baby and you run out on her and rampage though the galaxy when you should have been here helping her take care of the life you two created together. I just don't understand you sometimes!"

"It wasn't like that, Mom. I-"

"I don't want to hear it! I always knew you were a troubled boy, ever since you were a child. But you were so in love with Gwen I never would have imagined you'd just up and abandon her like that!"

"Leah, its okay. I managed." Gwen tried to reassure her.

"It is _not_ okay!" Leah snarled back. "I just- You make me so angry some times, Kevin! I don't understand how you can be so selfish and… and _uncaring_! You're just like your father!"

That statement threw Kevin for a moment. He'd always heard nothing but good things about his father. Not that he ever heard much to being with, but the little that was spoken about Devin Levin was generally positive. He was about to ask her what she meant by that, but he checked himself before the words escaped his mouth. He did not want to risk sending his mother on a new -and disorienting- rant. So instead Kevin shut his mouth and hoped that if he sat quietly and took his tongue lashing like a man his mother would be satisfied that he was adequately chastised and they could get back to their meal.

"Ya know, I think we could all take a moment to calm down." Gwen stood from the table. "There's no need to get all worked up over sixteen-year-old mistakes. Kevin knows he did wrong and he's working on making it up. To me, to Devlin… to everyone. I understand why he did it -I've always understood why he did it. In hindsight it was a stupid thing to do, but at the time he thought it was the only way to help our son. You're not gonna stay mad at him for just trying to help your grandbaby, are you?"

Admittedly, that last line was a bit of a low blow. A bit of emotional blackmail to force Leah to drop the subject.

"Don't sugar coat things, dear." Leah waved a dismissive hand. "I was there too. I saw how hard it was for you. Kevin gone off on his mad quest, Ben gone after him, you left alone with a baby that set everything on fire, was as strong as the average ten-year-old, was born with teeth, and had to have all its clothes made custom because nobody makes clothes for children with four arms or wings."

"If I'd succeeded none of that would have been a problem anymore." Kevin tried to explain.

"You hush." Gwen snapped. There was nothing he could say that might improve the situation. "Look, Leah, I'm not saying it was easy or that I supported what Kevin did. Raising Devlin alone was probably one of the most difficult things I've done in my life. And while I never actually opposed Kevin's crack-pot plan, that doesn't mean I approved of it either. But ya know what, its in the past. Its over. Devlin's normal and Kevin's back now. So there's no point in dredging up old arguments. Its done. Lets just move on."

Gwen sat back down and began cutting into her lamb (which had gone cold by that point).

Kevin and Leah soon followed her example and likewise turned back to their meals. But it just didn't taste quite as good after that. After a few bites, Kevin set down his fork and slid the plate away.

"I really should have been there." He muttered. More to himself than to the women at the table. "I should have helped raise my son."

"Well, we're just gonna have to make sure you stick around for the next one." Leah said so causally and nonchalantly. As if it were already decided. An already accepted fact -set in stone even- that he and Gwen were destined to have a second child.

The idea horrified Kevin. Gwen nearly died the first time around. Devlin absorbing her Anodite power while he was still in her womb, eating her from the inside out… it nearly killed her! There was no way they could have a second child. No way in hell! He couldn't go through that again. Not again!

"You're both a bit up there in age." Leah continued, completely oblivious to her son's internal horror. "But Gwen's still got one or two good child bearing years left in her. If you start now maybe you can give me a granddaughter before its to late."

Under the table Kevin's hands balled into fists. Gwen had been so skinny back then. So thin. A swollen pregnant belly on a scarecrow's body. All elbows and knees. Before Devlin she had been lean and muscular. Athletic. Curvy. _Healthy_. But after Gwen got pregnant… after they realized that the baby -his baby- was absorbing her energy… Gwen got so thin so fast. Weak and frail.

He tried to help. Since Gwen was determined to keep the baby instead of terminating the pregnancy and saving her own life, Kevin did what he could. He had never been very good at giving back the energy that he took. But with some training from Verdona he was able to at least help his wife. By absorbing the energy out of Devlin and cycling it back into Gwen at the same rate that the developing fetus was draining it out of her, he managed to keep either of them from dying. He couldn't take everything that Devlin had already absorbed because he couldn't tell what was supposed to be Gwen's mana and what was supposed to be the child's natural life force and he didn't want to take any of the baby's actual life energy away from it. So, he never could repair the damage that was done to Gwen. All he managed to succeed in doing was making sure it didn't get any worse.

"Leah, that's not going to happen." Gwen was saying. "I'm not gonna have any more children."

Gwen… Beautiful. Smart. Sexy. Nerdy. Dirty. Gwen. Gawd, he loved her so much! But his love nearly killed her. His child… if he hadn't gotten her pregnant she never would have gotten so weak. Maybe he did deserve that punch to the face.

Her brother Ken, after everyone learned exactly what was wrong with Gwen and why, Ken grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him up against a wall, colliding his fist with Kevin's face. ' _You're killing her, Kevin!'_ He said. _'My baby sister's dying because of you!'_

Kevin stood from the table. It was suddenly stuffy and oppressive in the dining room. He couldn't breath. "May I please be excused?"

And without waiting for an answer, Kevin dashed from the table. He slipped out of the house entirely and found himself in the garage. The wonderful, cold, greasy, dirty, beautiful garage. His comfort zone. The place he went when he needed to think.

Kevin suddenly felt like he was in two places at once. Sitting on the garage floor, his back against the door, his knees drawn up to his chest. Safe. But also crouched on the floor of a different garage. The one under the tiny apartment he and Gwen used to share before she got pregnant. Crouching on the cold concrete, his back to his car, Verdona hovering over him.

 _'She's dying.' Kevin sobs into his knees. 'She's dying and its all my fault! They're both gonna die and I don't know what to do.'_

 _'Kevin, are you crying?' Verdona asks in that sing song voice of hers that always relieved Ben and Gwen but never failed to terrify him._

 _'N-no.' He sobs. Because men aren't supposed to cry. Men are supposed to be strong, and confident, and dependable, and protect the people they care about. The people who depend on him. Like his wife and unborn child. Except that Kevin wasn't dependable or protecting them at all. In fact, it was because of him that Gwen was so weak and ill in the first place. He was a bad seed and his seed was bad seed._

 _Verdona places a glowing indigo hand on his shoulder. 'Kevin, its okay to cry.'_

 _'I don't know what to do!'_

 _'I have an idea.'_

 _They're upstairs. In the tiny one room apartment. Its cramped with the bed unfolded and all Gwen's bookshelves. So many books and not a one of them helpful! His hands are on Gwen, one palm over her swollen belly, feeling the baby's kicks, the other resting on her forehead, slick with cold sweat -she's always so cold now! He's scared and he doesn't know what he's doing. But Verdona is still hovering over him and she's confident so that makes him feel better -safer._

 _'Can you sense their energy?' She asks. "Gwen's and the baby's?'_

 _'Yes.' He nods._

 _'Can you feel it traveling? From Gwen into the baby. Can you feel its speed?'_

 _'Yes.' He confirms again, still unsure what exactly Verdona is having him do._

 _'Now, I want you to absorb mana from the baby at the exact same speed its absorbing it from Gwen. Can you do that?'_

 _'You want me to what!?' For a moment he's more horror-struck than he was before. She wants him to absorb his own child? While it still slept in its mother's womb? What kind of sick, sadistic, bat-shite crazy solution was this!? No!_

 _'I want you to absorb the power the baby is taking from Gwen and give it back to her.' Verdona is very patient as she explains this. She doesn't raise her voice or growl, but her own anxiety shows through. 'Do you want to save your wife and unborn child or not?'_

 _He's still hesitant and unsure, but he does what she says anyway. Because, really, what other option is there? Its not like a normal Earthling doctor would know what to do in this situation and they already suggested terminating the pregnancy and forcing a miscarriage -an idea that pissed Gwen off so much she would have been throwing spells at them if she had the energy to. So, Kevin turns his attention to the task at hand. He gauges the rate at which his baby is drawing the life out of its mother, matches it, and starts absorbing that power right back out of the child._

 _There's a single panic stricken moment when the baby's heart beat quickens and it starts to kick harder against Gwen's belly and Kevin is afraid he's killing in. But then power is flowing into him and he feels strong, confident, invincible and suddenly he doesn't care. There'll never be anything to worry about ever again. He has power. Power is all that matters. With power he can do anything!_

 _'Kevin, remember to cycle it back into Gwen.' Verdona's voice sounds strangely distant to his ears. 'Kevin, give it back!'_

 _An indigo hand closes around his wrist and the mana he's absorbing from his own child is suddenly being forced out of his body and back into Gwen. She sighs in relief at the return of energy and opens her eyes. Its in that moment that Kevin realizes what almost just happened. What he almost just did and he's sick. Very, very sick. Its all he can do to get to the bathroom before he vomits his guts out._

Kevin looked at the puddle of puke on the garage floor and wondered how it got there. The same lamb, vegetables, and roasted potatoes he just ate. The blood was pumping in his ears and his stomach churned. He couldn't believe his mother would suggest that. Having another kid. No! Never again. He could not go through that again. He couldn't put Gwen through that again.

Behind him, the garage door opened and Kevin nearly fell backwards into Gwen's legs.

"Whoa!"

"I came to check on you. Are you okay? You look flushed."

Kevin stood, looking her up and down. She was muscular again, and lean, her hips slightly wider than they had been before but that was to be expected. She was healthy. Not scarecrow thin with sunken cheeks and dark circles under her eyes. Kevin wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him.

"I'm so glad you're alright." He sobbed into her hair. "I can't do it, Gwen. I can't have another kid with you. I can't go through that again. You almost died! I just… we can't… if you…"

He squeezed her tighter.

"Kevin, are you crying?" She asked, concerned.

"Verdona said it's okay to cry."

Gwen put her arms around him and rubbed circles into his back. "Shh. Its okay, you have nothing to worry about." She told him. "I can't have kids anymore."

"I know you can't!" Kevin was approaching hysterical now. "If I get you pregnant again you'll probably _die_! Oh, gawd! What if you're already pregnant again? We've been doing it a lot since I got out and I haven't been wearing anything. I've killed you! I've killed you all over again!"

Shaking her head, Gwen pulled away just enough to be able to look him directly in the eyes. "No, Kevin, I mean I can't have children anymore. I can't conceive. Whatever Devlin did to me while I was pregnant with him, he also made it so that I can't have children anymore. You have nothing to worry about. Devlin is -and forever will be- our _only_ child. I can't have another."

"Really?" He asked, eyes pleading.

"Really." She confirmed.

Kevin sunk back to his kneed, weak with relief. "Thank goodness." His arms still wrapped around Gwen, he pressed his head to her flat belly. "Thank you. I love Devlin, Gwen. I suffered for that kid and I don't regret it, but I don't ever wanna go through that again. I don't wanna put _you_ through that again! I can't. Devlin is all we'll ever have."

She stroked his long dark hair for several minutes. When his breathing returned to normal and she was sure he was once again calm, Gwen asked. "So, are you ready to come back inside and help me explain this little panic attack to your mother?"

"Panic attack? I didn't have a panic attack. I've fought aliens, mutants, robots, monsters, and mind-controlling extra-demential entities. I don't panic."

"Baby, you ran out of the house and ralfed on the garage floor." Gwen pointed out in the voice she used to talking to small children and agitated hostage terrorists. "You either had a panic attack or else a post traumatic stress flashback. But that's okay. It was pretty traumatic for me too. Do you think you can at least sit through the rest of the meal? I'll take you back home after, I promise. But your mother hasn't seen you in so long -I want her to get to spend some time with you."

Kevin once again stood. This time on shaky, unstable legs. "Okay, Babe, I can do that."

They made their way back into the house and found Leah in the dining room clearing the table. "Maybe lamb was a bit heavy for brunch…" She was muttering to herself when they walked in. She looked up at them. "How about something a bit lighter. I have a bottle of wine and a fruit plate we can _nosh_ on."

"Wine, yes. I'll take some of that." Kevin agreed, perhaps a bit more enthusiastically than was normal for him.

Brunch passed by much more peacefully after that. They avoided the subject of more children, Gwen's pregnancy, Kevin's rampage and all other related topics. Conversation was limited to what celebrities won what awards over the past sixteen years, what celebrities were arrested or died, what sports teams won what games, any interesting or note worthy advancements in technology, social changes, and of course, the weather.

Finally, Gwen was satisfied that Kevin had visited with his mother enough for a first visit and she politely excused them.

It was as Kevin was slipping his jacket back on -a jacket he was borrowing from Ben until he could go shopping and get some clothes of his own- that something fell out of his pocket. Leah bent down to pick it up, holding the small of her back as she did so -she was old and bending wasn't as easy as it used to be. It turned out to be the card that Servantis had given him at the Pardon Ceremony. Leah ran a finger over the name as if trying to call up something from a half remembered dream.

"Hector Servantis…" She said aloud, voice halfway between a question and a wistful whisper. "Where have I heard that name before…?"

Kevin snatched the card out of her hand. His mother had her home destroyed by his misadventures to many times already, he did not need her getting involved in his Plumbers dealings anymore. "He's a shady black ops that's trying to recruit me for a job. Nothing you need to worry about, Mom."

He shoved the card back in his pocket and helped Gwen into her coat.

"Was he a friend of Devin's?" Leah asked.

"I don't know." Kevin admitted. Of course, there wouldn't be a lot he would know about a black spotted leader of a secret Plumbers team. But it was sometimes deplorably depressing just how little Kevin knew of his actual father. Leah spoke of him so infrequently, sometimes -in his darker moods- Kevin wondered if Leah even knew much of anything about the man that was supposed to have been the father of her child. "But I can ask him when I turn down his offer."

They hugged, and Kevin and Gwen left.

…

Professor Daniel's sudden resignation created a large gaping hole in the Sunday schedule at the Weekend Academy. Suddenly there was a yawning hour-long block in which cadets had absolutely nothing to do but mill about the common areas of the station.

"I suppose we could just go home early." Kenny suggested. He was lounging against one of the slightly better than uncomfortable benches that were sporadically placed along the station's outer corridor, facing the windows.

At his side, Devlin gave a non-comital grunt. He was absorbed in a book. But then, that was Devlin for you. If he wasn't practicing his martial arts, training to be a Plumber, or working on his car, then he would be reading a book. A real book. Made of paper. With pages and everything. Not an e-reader, a datapad, or a texttablet. It was a preference he developed very early on, back when he was trapped in his monstrous, mutant alien form, the touch screens of most digital devices wouldn't register his claws or talons. His finger swipes did nothing. So, Devlin learned to read on real books and continued to prefer real books even after gaining a human form.

"Are you listening to me?" Kenny asked.

Devlin turned a page.

Kenny made a face of displeasure. He made a grab for the book, to try and yank it from his cousin's hands and force the older boy to pay attention to him. But the moment Kenny moved Devlin lifted the book out of reach. He might look like he wasn't paying attention, but Devlin was a fantastic multi-tasker and made it a habit to be aware of his surroundings. Kenny (and others) sometimes questioned just how much he actually absorbed from his books when he was always dividing his focus like that, or if the books were just a pretext to make him appear more relaxed and approachable (Devlin never appeared approachable). But then, he was Gwen's son and Gwen was practically a genus. So maybe he could split his focus without missing a beat of either.

None of that really mattered to Kenny at the moment, however. His sudden lunge and failed grab threw the younger boy off balance and he inevitable found himself face-flat on the floor of the corridor.

Devlin turned a page.

As cool as you please.

Picking himself up off the ground, Kenny glared at his cousin. "Anyone ever tell you, you can be a jerk some times?"

"Every day." Devlin did not bother to look up as he said this.

Kenny was about to say more, but his attention was distracted -something very easy to do with him- when he saw Ally walking down the corridor to them. He quickly crossed the space between them and, grabbing her by the arm, pulling the girl over to where Devlin was sitting. "Ally, Devlin won't pay attention to me!"

"This is my problem how?" She asked. "Seriously, Kenny, you're not a little kid. If the guy wants to read his book then leave him alone."

This was not the answer Kenny had been hoping for. Sometimes Ally reminded him more of his aunt Gwendolyn then Devlin did. It was a little disorienting. Devlin was Gwen's son, but unlike his mother, he was moody, snarky, argumentative, and stubborn. In fact, now that Kenny had actually met the infamous Kevin, he was beginning to realize that Devlin was more like him. Ally, on the other hand, a girl with no relation to the family what so ever, was calm, patient, and understanding. But still not above calling someone out on their behavior -like she did in the Mess on Friday night- or putting them in their place -like now with Kenny bothering Devlin.

"Fine then." Kenny grumbled. Then he smiled. "Will _you_ pay attention to me? C'mon, it's a free period since Professor Daniels resigned. Did you bring your 4DS? Maybe we can play a co-op."

"4DS makes you dizzy." Devlin reminded his younger cousin, still not looking up from his book. He turned another page. The Nintendo 4DS might make Kenny dizzy, but that didn't stop him from playing it. In his opinion games were meant to be played. In Devlin's opinion, games were not meant to be played in the fourth dimension -whatever alien race Nintendo had outsource to just did not understand the limits of the human mind.

"Maybe some other time." Ally shook her head. She sat down next to Devlin. "Although, speaking about Cooper, what happened to him? He seemed fine last week. I wonder what changed to make his resign all of a sudden. You two don't know anything… do you?"

She fixed Kenny of a dark-eyed stare that almost made him spill his guts. Dad and Aunt Gwendolyn had sworn the boys to secrecy. They said that since they weren't going to press actual charges that there was no point in announcing the debacle to the world. That it would ruin his career and his livelihood and they did not have the right to do that. Devlin -always the pessimist- reminded them that Cooper had kidnapped him, drained energy from his mother, and tried to kill at least one of them. To that, all the grown ups did was scoff. _Scoff!_

So he went nutty and tried to kill one or two of us. Big deal. Its not like that was the first time a friend had done that to any of them -and both Ben and Gwen had given sideways glances at Kevin. Besides, it was just Cooper. Not like anyone was in any actual danger. What's a little attempted murder between friends? Water near a bridge.

Kenny swallowed hard. For reasons unknown he always found it exceedingly difficult to lie to Ally. "No. No idea."

Ally raised an eyebrow and held Kenny's eyes for a moment longer than was necessary. Her way of saying ' _I know you're lying, but I'm gonna let it slide_ '. Instead, she turned her attention to Devlin. "Weren't your mom and Cooper dating? What happened with that now that your dad is back?"

"He's not my 'dad' he's just my 'father'." Devlin corrected. The book was still open in his hands, but at the mention of Kevin his eyes stopped moving. He wasn't reading it anymore. Now it really was just a pretext. Something to help him appear casual and relaxed when really, Devlin had gone tense. Mention of Kevin always made him tense -even before the man was out of the Null Void.

There was a beat of silence.

Then someone cleared their throat. "An interesting distinction."

All three teenagers looked up. They had been so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn't noticed the fourth person that just randomly came up to their group. Tall and slender with mingled human and alien features. With pale orange skin and a large head. A thin face with a sharp goatee , narrow red eyes, high cheek bones and pointed ears. Kenny and Devlin recognized him instantly.

"You're that guy!" Kenny pointed. "The one from the Pardon Ceremony."

The newcomer made a face of displeasure at Kenny. More than just finding the boy's sloppy address to be rude, but also as if his very existence offended him in some way. "My rank is Proctor." He informed the boy tersely. "Proctor Servantis. If you want to become a Plumber some day, I suggest you show your superiors the proper difference. Don't fall into your father's bad habits, boy."

Kenny shut his mouth and looked adequately chastised -and also instantly decided that he did not like this Proctor Servantis one bit.

Devlin marked his place in his book and set it down. Standing, he gave a proper salute to the black-spotted Proctor. "Sir."

Half a step behind him, Ally did the same.

Servantis nodded, as if in approval. "Very nice. But can you do more than pose like a trained ape?"

"Sir?" Devlin blinked at him.

"You're the offspring of Kevin Levin -don't look so sullen, its a statement of fact. You inherited abilities from an assortment of ten aliens from him. That I already know. But do you have his eleventh ability, I wonder. Can you absorb the traits or abilities of other beings like he can?"

Raising his chin, suddenly feeling defensive, Devlin replied, "I wouldn't know, Sir. I've never tried."

Because that was the thing Kevin 11,000 was most notorious for. Absorbing the traits or abilities of other beings. That was what he did when he was a child when he absorbed Uncle Ben's first Omnitrix. That was what he did as a teenager to defeat Aggregor. And that was what he did as an adult on his half-mad quest to find a way to make his son normal. Absorbing people was what Kevin 11,000 did, so to distance himself from that image of his father, Devlin made sure that was something he _never_ did.

"A shame." Servantis sighed.

"Sir?" Devlin asked again, now confused.

"Hm. Oh. I happen to be putting together a team -attempting to re-create a team, actually- and it just so happens that I need someone with that specific ability. But if you don't have that power, that's fine. You would have been able to bypass this tedious pre-Academy Weekend Academy system and start your career as a Plumber early. But if you can't you can't -that's fine. I apologize for troubling you."

He turned as if to leave. HIs back to the trio, Servantis took one… two… three steps before Devlin called.

"Wait!"

Servantis turned back around to see the boy had taken a half-step to follow him, one arm outstretch, as if trying to grasp something he wanted but was afraid he might be denied. The older man suppressed the urge to smirk in triumph. He had read the boy correctly. He might not be able to read his mind, just as he never could read Kevin's mind. But Servantis did not rely solely on his telepathic abilities. Even before he became a Cerebrocrustacean-hybrid, he was excellent as cold reading and Devlin he didn't even have to cold-read all that much.

He was a textbook 'atoning for my father's sins' type. The boy wanted to prove to the world -no, the universe- and maybe himself, that he wasn't the same evil monster his father was. To that end, he decided to pursue a life of saving lives, protecting peace, and just generally helping people. That was why he wanted to become a Plumber. But, because of his association with one of the galaxy's most infamous terrorists, he was afraid of rejection. He always assumed that people always assumed the worst of him and -by extension- assumed he would be blocked from his goal at every turn.

Dangling the possibility of bypassing the Academy System and becoming a Plumber early was exactly the right bait Servantis needed to hook the boy. If he couldn't have his Kevin back, then he would settle for the next best thing -assuming the boy had even inherited the requisite ability. There was always a level of uncertainty when dealing with these new and not completely mapped-out genetic mutations.

"Yes?" Servantis asked slowly.

"What if… what if I did have that ability? You'd let me join your team. Even though I'm…"

"Young?" Servantis supplied the only other alternative to 'Levin' -or whatever the boy was about to end that sentence with. "I don't care how old you are or who your parents are. All I care about is, can you do the job?" Servantis did a little twist and flick of his wrist and the card he'd been carrying in his sleeve appeared in his hand. He passed this to Devlin. "Give me a call when you know your own power."

This time he turned to leave for real.

But again he was stopped. This time by the girl. "I inherited powers from my dad, too!" She informed him. "I'm a Pyronite."

"And you are…?"

"Ally. Ally Albright."

Servantis paused, took a closer look at her dark complexion, high cheekbones, and square chin. "I knew an Albright once. He was also a Pyronite."

The girl smiled as if in triumph. "My dad! Alan Albright."

"Yes… that was his name, I think…" The others had all just been experiments and expendable. Kevin and his ability to _make_ them was what was important. Still, they were his creations and so Servantis made it a point to memorize their names.

But the thing he found especially fascinating was that Albright managed to procreate _and_ pass on the artificial genetic mutation. Alone, each was incredible. Cross-species hybrids were traditionally sterile -incapable of producing offspring. An artificial mutation might only last for one generation and never be passed to subsequent offspring. But to have a cross-specie hybrid not only sire an offspring, but also pass along his artificial mutation… that was unheard of!

Servantis produced a second card. "I'd like to hear from you too."

"Are you gonna offer me a job, too, now?" Kenny asked, excitedly.

"No." Servantis snapped curtly at the Tennyson brat. For the third time he turned to leave and this time he actually walked away.

He did what he planned to do. Just plant a seed. Put an idea in Devlin's head that he was better off dropping the silly Academy and coming to work for Servantis. Even if the boy didn't poses the specific Osmosian ability Servantis wanted, he would still be interesting to study. If for no other reason than to better understand the mutation and map-out the complete OSM-1 gene.

And while he was examining specimens, he's like to take a look at Ally's genes too. Who would have thought that one of his little Amalgams would have procreated? It made Servantis want to check on the others as well. Maybe there was another cute little surprise for him.

All and all, a very interesting errand.

…


	4. Trouble with Kids

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Roots

Chapter Four: Trouble With Kids

"You're not seriously considering that guy's offer, are you?" Kenny asked from the passenger seat as they rode home. As per usual, whenever they were in the car and having a serious discussion, Devlin was using the fact that he was the driver as an excuse to pretend he wasn't listening to his cousin. "I mean, you heard Grandpa Max the other night. They skate on regulations and bend the rules. You're all about regulations and rules!"

Devlin did not comment. Instead, he used making a left turn as a pretext for ignoring his younger cousin. It was true, Devlin tried to follow the rules as closely to the letter of the rule as possible. He felt that following them both distanced himself from his father's crimes as well as protected him from people who would discriminate against him simply because of who his father is. To be completely honest, the idea of joining Servantis' team that skated the edges of or bent the Plumber's Oath, codes, and regulation didn't really appeal to Devlin.

But, the possibility of bypassing the Academy and becoming a Plumber sooner _did_ have a great deal of appeal for him.

"And what was up with him wanting to know if you had your dad's power to absorb stuff from people?" Kenny continued. "What possible purpose would a Plumbers team need for absorbing powers or traits from others?"

At that question, Devlin gave up his attempt at ignoring his cousin. "I don't know." He admitted. "Grandpa did say he ran a covert team. Maybe the ability to absorb another being's traits would allow an agent to by-pass bio-scan security systems. Ya known, the kind that check your fingerprints and retinas."

"Okay…" Kenny conceded that point. The ability to absorb the traits of others might allow an operative to by-pass certain security. "But then that just raises an all new question of 'why?'. I mean, I've only been at the Weekend Academy for a year and I sure as heck don't know everything, but I'm pretty sure that by-passing securities and breaking into other people's stuff doesn't fall under the Plumbers' purview."

"Unless that's not the reason Servantis needs someone with the same power as Kevin 11,000." Devlin suggested.

There was a pause.

Kenny did not ask why Devlin phased it specifically like that. Calling his dad 'Kevin 11,000' instead of just 'Kevin' like he seemed to be doing since he was released from the Null Void. It was Devlin's way of distancing himself from his father and his father's crimes. But that didn't change the fact that Kevin Levin was his father and the powers and abilities Devlin had were inherited from him. It made sense that if someone wanted to put together a team to combat Kevin 11,000 (or at least someone like him) they would need an operative with similar powers and abilities.

Was Servantis putting together a special operations team as a failsafe to take Kevin down if he went wacky again and terrorized the galaxy anew? Or was it something else? Grandpa did say that Servantis and his 'Rooters' were stationed in the Null Void, keeping the rest of the universe safe from an unnamed enemy. Their mysterious 'coming storm', or whatever. Did they need someone with Kevin's abilities to fight their 'approaching storm'?

Either way, it didn't matter. In his mind, Devlin had decided that this whole thing revolved around Kevin.

"Okay, subject change: I've seen you absorb energy before. Electricity, fire, Aunt Gwendolyn's mana, and stuff. But I've never seen you absorb anything from a living thing. How do you know if you even can? How do you test for something like that?"

"Obviously, I have to try and absorb something living."

"You're kidding, right?" Kenny blinked at him. "You're not really gonna try and absorb someone, are you? Dev? You're not, right?"

" _Of course not!_ " Devlin snapped, insulted that his cousin would even think that. He wasn't his father! The car pulled into the hanger of the Plumbers Headquarters and Devlin cut the engine. "But this conversation stops right now. I don't want Kevin overhearing something and sticking his nose in."

Especially not if this Servantis person really was putting together a team to take Kevin down.

Speaking of Kevin, none other than the recently pardoned felon himself was in the hanger when the boys stepped out of the car. He was sifting through a crate of disused machine parts, dividing them between ones that came from the Rust Bucket and those that came from the cars. He looked up when they entered. "You boys are home early. Gwen said the Weekend Academy doesn't usually let you out until much later."

"There was a hole in the schedule." Devlin informed him, as if this explained everything. He opened the door to the backseat and pulled out his overnight duffle, slinging the bag over his shoulder.

Kenny did the same. "Since you made Cooper resign from teaching there, we don't have an Alien Tech and Adaptive Engineering class anymore."

"Oh. Was that an important class?" Kevin asked, suddenly wondering if he did more harm than good by threatening Cooper that if he ever caught him around his kid again Kevin would beat him so hard his entrails would become his extrails.

But, at the same time, Cooper had kidnapped Devlin, planned to use him to manipulate Gwen, held Gwen prisoner and fed off her mana until she was dangerously past unconscious, and tried to kill him. Kevin felt it was perfectly reasonable to not want a person like that teaching his son. …Then again, who was he to point fingers and condemn others for pulling that stuff when he himself did the exact same thing in the past? Was Kevin being a little hypocritical and over-reacting? After all, what was a little attempted murder between friends? Water near a bridge.

"No." Kenny shook his head. He never really payed attention in ATAE anyway.

While at the exact same time Devlin snarled, " _Yes._ "

Kevin raised an eyebrow at them.

"It was a lecture and practical demonstration class about alien technology so that we'd know what we were working with once we get to the real Academy." Devlin explained. "But it also introduced the idea of 'adaptive engineering'. That's where you cobble crap together on the fly to make something to help you on a case. Like those cure guns Professor Daniels made during the DNAlien invasion."

"Oh. Pff. I can teach you that." Kevin scoffed.

"Aren't you already teaching Devlin how to absorb mater?" Kenny asked.

"Failing at it is more like it." Devlin snorted. "Two lessons so far and its still as impossible as it was before he showed up."

Kevin made a face that would have sent a normal person running to hide behind a very large, laser proof object, but Devlin just seemed to completely ignore his father's apparent displeasure at the comment. He was getting really tired of this stop-go act Devlin was pulling. One moment the kid was sobbing into his shoulder about how much he wanted Kevin to stay, he wanted to know his father, he wanted to learn how to absorb mater, and have Kevin look at the work he did on the car. The next moment Devlin was cold, snippety, and bitter like he still thought Kevin was the most evil thing since the invention of evil.

Honestly, at this point, Kevin wished the kid would just make up his mind. Even if Devlin decided that he really did hate his father -as much as that would hurt- at least then Kevin would know where he stood with his son. All this back and forth was frustrating. Kevin never knew how to handle the boy.

"Ya know," Kevin began, "you're home earlier than you were supposed to be, that means you've got time, right. Go put your stuff away and meet me back here. We'll have a lesson right now."

Devlin looked like he was about to protest but Kevin cut the kid of before he got the chance.

" _Now!_ "

In the six days Kevin had been out of the Null Void, he had never seen either of the boy move as quickly as they did at his snarled command. Both kids hopped-to quickly. Hefting their duffle bags over their shoulders and sprinting from the hanger like their feet were on fire. Yup, he was still scary. But Kevin couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.

He went back to sorting his machine parts, trying to decide which could be repurposed for the new car he planned to build and which would be put back in storage. The task was made a bit difficult by the tiny detail that Kevin hadn't yet decided what kind of car he was going to build. Something fast. That went without saying. Kevin liked his rides hot and fast -which was also how he liked his pizza and his coffee. But was he gonna go with another muscle car like the GTO now claimed by Devlin? Or something sporty and sexy that might make Gwen all hot and bothered? Or maybe something simple and practical? A grown man's car… Nah! Muscle car it would be. Kevin wouldn't be caught dead driving any 'old man's car'!

Devlin reappeared a few moments later looking grumpy and disgruntled. He glared up at his father from their hight difference of six inches.

Choosing to ignore the boy's hostile glare, Kevin selected one of the machine parts he'd decided against for his future car. "Okay, so last time I explained that it'll be easier to absorb processed metals because they have fewer impurities. So lets pick up there." He held out the machine part. "This is pure titanium. Try absorbing it."

He tossed the part at the boy who caught the heavy piece in both hands looking indignant.

Devlin held it in his hands for a moment. Feeling the cool metal, noting the serrated edges of the exposed gears and the smoothed sides of the casing. He closed his eyes and focused on the object in his hands. He tried to pull it into himself like he did when he absorbed electricity or mana. Energy absorption came to him so naturally. Like sucking soda through a straw. But for some reason, he just couldn't slurp matter. Devlin's brows knit together in frustration. Kevin made this look so easy. Why wasn't this easy!? Energy absorption came to him so naturally. Why wasn't this coming just as naturally?

"Okay, stop, stop." Kevin placed a hand over the kid's. "You're working to hard. Just, put your hands on it and… um, let the mater flow? Yeah. Flow's a good way to describe it." Kevin moved his fingers just enough to touch some of the metal between his son's hands and absorbed just enough of the titanium to turn his arm to metal up to the elbow. "See? Just let it flow through your hands into the rest of you."

"It doesn't work that way for me." Devlin informed him.

He let go of the piece and pulled a chain out from under the collar of his shirt until it revealed an ordinary looking padlock. Devlin closed his hand over the lock and absorbed the mana that was stored inside it. Power flowed through his hand and up his arm, over his chest under the skin, to his heart and then spreading across the rest of the body. His body, a human body not meant to hold the strong Anodite power reacted the only was it knew how -it transformed into a shape that could house and process that power.

The fibers of his shirt strained as his rib cage expanded, four arms tore through the black jersey cotton, wings sprouted from his back, his spine elongated into a tail and his -now Tetramand shaped- feet burst from his shoes. (Devlin lost more clothes that way. It was one of the many reasons he hated this form.) As per usual, Kevin averted his eyes at the sight of his son's alien form. A monstrous mutant shape he'd inherited from Kevin himself. It was Kevin's first mutation back from when he was still just a child. From the first time he tried absorbing the Omnitrix. Back when he and Ben were still enemies.

It was a reminder of everything that was wrong with him. Of every bad decision he'd ever made. Every mistake he made. Of the person he used to be and never wanted to be again.

Devlin ignored the fact that his father still couldn't look at him in his other form. It bothered him, but this wasn't about that right now. "I can do this." The boy said. "I can absorb raw energy like its nothing."

He held the padlock in his hands, forcing the mana back into its talisman. The wings curled back into his back. The tail slithered up his spine and disappeared. The extra arms folded themselves into his sides. His ribs returned to their normal size. "And I can do this. Putting it back, or manipulating the energy any way I want. That stuff is easy for me. But mater just doesn't wanna work with me."

Kevin stared at his son. He knew the boy had excellent control of the energy he absorbed. He witnessed the kid do essentially the same trick when he gave his mana to Gwen after Cooper had drained her nearly dry. But that was in the heat of a battle and Kevin didn't really think much of it. There were other things going on at the time. But here, in the calm safety of the hanger, Kevin was amazed. He certainly never had that kind of fine control of the energy he absorbed. In fact, he didn't learn to control the energy like that until Gwen was pregnant.

Half-dead from his child feeding off her her mana from the inside. It was Verdona that gave him the training he needed to save Gwen and their child. Helped him temper the drunken madness that came from absorbing energy and look through it. Focus past it so that he could do what he needed to do. To take the energy he absorbed from the unborn Devlin and cycle it back into Gwen. But even that took a great deal of effort on Kevin's part. Every moment had been a constant battle with himself to give back what he was taking and not gorge himself on the well-spring of power that pulsed just beneath his hands.

He would never have the kind of fine control Devlin had.

"That's amazing, Devlin!" Kevin beamed at him. Now that he was back in his human form, it was easy to make eye-contact with the boy. "I can't even do that!"

"Well, I can't absorb mater. So I guess that makes us even." The kid shot back.

Suddenly once again very frustrated with the boy, Kevin ran a hand through his long dark hair and suppressed a growl. "No, this isn't about being even. This is about you learning a skill that will let you fight aliens like you want without having to rely on your mutant form."

"That I got from you."

A fact the kid was never going to let him forget.

Kevin once again suppressed a growl. "That you got from me." He picked up the machine part again and placed it back in his son's hands. "Now try again. Mater has an energy to it too. Its small and subtle, but if you look for it you can feel it. Like electrons racing around a molecule."

Devlin blinked at him disbelieving. "You can't feel that! That's _way_ to small. No one can feel that. You'd have to be- … _insane!_ "

Kevin shrugged. It wasn't the first time someone called him crazy and it wouldn't be the last. It bothered him that his own son felt that way, but Kevin was coming to realize that this was probably the nature of their relationship and -unfortunately- nothing was going to change that. "I can feel it." He said. "It took some practice and a lot of concentration at first, but I eventually got the hang of it. You will too."

The kid still looked skeptical.

"I learned to control the energy I absorbed." Kevin ventured hoping that the kid would understand that if Kevin could learn to control his energy madness (something he'd struggled with all his life) then Devlin could learn to absorb mater. It was only a _matter_ of time -Kevin mentally kicked himself for the pun. "You can learn to control mater."

"You _just_ said you couldn't control energy." Devlin snapped. "Make up your mind and stop changing your story. Gawd! There's no way I can learn anything from you!"

Devlin tossed the machine part back in the box and was about to storm away, but Kevin stopped him with a hand on the shoulder.

"I said I can't control it as well or as finely as you can." He growled. "But I sure as hell controlled it well enough to keep your mother alive while you were sucking her dry from the inside out. Now stop acting like a whiny brat and come back here before I reach the end of my infamously _short_ patience."

Devlin did turn around and come back. But not to resume his lesson.

He poked Kevin hard in the chest with an accusatory finger. "Mom never would have been put in that position if I wasn't _your_ son! I might have been the thing feeding on her and making her weak, but _you're_ the one who put me there. Mom would have been just fine if it wasn't for _you!_ "

Once again, Kevin was reminded of a moderately deserved punch to the face he received from Gwen's brother. Ken broke his fingers that night. Kevin always was more durable than the average human -his face included. _'My baby sister's dying because of you!'_ But this time Kevin fought the flashback. The last thing he was going to do was break down and have a panic attack right in front of the son who already didn't like him -possibly hated him- and just show more weakness for the kid to find fault with.

"Its not like I planned it!" He snarled.

And instantly regretted the words the moment they left his mouth.

The look on Devlin's face…

A tense silence settled between them.

Kevin wanted desperately to take back what he'd just said. While it was true, Devlin had not been planned, that did not mean that he wasn't wanted. The moment Kevin came home to find Gwen sitting on the apartment floor surrounded by a semicircle of assorted pregnancy tests (because she _had_ to make sure the first, second, or tenth wasn't just a false positive), he knew he wanted the baby. It was a happy accident. The only reason he suggested terminating the pregnancy and forcing a miscarriage later was because the fetus was killing her. He'd rather live a childless life than lose the only woman in the entire universe capable of loving him. But it was because Gwen wanted the baby so much -their baby that they made together- that he and Verdona worked out a way to both keep it and save her. Kevin was glad he did what Gwen wanted.

Because as terrible as it was that their son inherited the worst of his powers and the worst of his mutations, and as guilty as Kevin felt about that, Devlin was also the only other person on Earth like himself. The only other Osmosian Kevin had ever met -besides Aggregor who didn't count because he was a bad guy. They were one in the same, he and Devlin. For that alone Kevin would love him unconditionally. And he was Gwen's son. That meant he was quick thinking, witty, and clever -intelligent. Studious and analytical. All the things Kevin wasn't. Perfect. His perfect boy. After all, there was no way anything that came from Gwen could be anything less than perfect.

That was why Kevin terribly wished he could turn back the last few seconds and stop himself from saying what he'd just said. "Devlin, I-"

"No. I get it." The kid cut him off. "I wasn't planned. I knew that. I was an accident. You never wanted me. Don't bother denying it, Kevin. The truth is so much easier. Mom got pregnant and wanted to keep me and you just sort of went along with it because you two have this weird co-dependency thing going on. Sorry my existence inconveniences you."

Devlin turned to leave again and this time he didn't let Kevin stop him.

"That's not true! Devlin, wait!"

…

Pulling up files he hadn't looked at in years, Servantis scrolled through pages of data.

Who would have thought his little Amalgam Kids could produce children of their own? Amazing! As a general rule, cross-specie hybrids were sterile. Incapable of producing offspring. Yet, the Albright boy somehow managed to have a daughter. How incredible! Servantis never even thought to test for such an occurrence! Why would he? He would have just assumed their genetic lineage would end with them.

Kevin having an offspring was no big surprise. Servantis might have augmented his genes a little bit -specifically the OSM-1 gene, but he was still entirely human -Osmosian. There was nothing preventing him from being a virulent and productive male. But Albright, the Wheels siblings, and Armstrong… that was completely unexpected.

There was nothing to suggest it in the files.

Servantis closed the documents and instead pulled up the portal for the universal Plumbers' Database and looked up his other children to see how they were doing. Albright was no longer a deputized plumber. His status was listed as 'Inactive' and upon a quick check it was discovered that he was now an Agricultural Commissioner. But his daughter -age fifteen- wanted to become a Plumber and had already completed one year at the Weekend Academy towards that goal.

The Wheels brother, Pierce, had no offspring. Which Servantis found a little disappointing, actually. After the discovery of Ally Albright, he expected to find that each of them would have a small litter of inexplicable human-alien hybrids. But no. Sadly, Pierce had never been married and hadn't had a serious relationship since his teens. He was still active with the Plumbers, however, and oversaw the Weekend Academy as its head administrator and disciplinarian -read: Principal.

Armstrong and the Wheels sister, Helen, had married each other and they too had an offspring. Also a daughter. Of course any viable offspring produced by his Amalgams would have to be female as the extra X chromosome compensated for any possible defects. It made them genetically more resilient than one of an XY organism. But Servantis found it interesting that Helen managed to not only conceive but also carry to term as she was a cross-species hybrid same as her husband. Because it was the condition of the mother that was always more important than that of the father. Alan's wife had been human and -Servantis assumed- normal and healthy. But Helen was not a normal human and should have been infertile. -Then again, Alan and Manny should have been infertile as well.

He pulled up Helen's medical records and found that -beginning from the date of their marriage- Helen and Manny suffered a series of miscarriages, spontaneous abortions and, one still birth. Her hybrid body rejecting their attempts to create something new. It took them six years, but Helen was finally able to carry something to term. A girl, of course. A Tetramand-Kineceleran hybrid with no apparent human traits.

Servantis desperately wanted to get his hands on that child and the Albright girl. Just like he desperately wanted to get his hands on his Kevin again, and yes, Kevin's son too. Maybe even Aggregor if he knew where he was -or even if he was still alive- to complete his research on the OSM-1 gene. Servantis wanted his matched set.

...


	5. Overprotective

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Roots

Chapter Five: Overprotective

Monday morning rolled around and Kevin just did not want to get out of bed. For the first morning since being released from the Null Void, he felt like crap. He didn't want to climb out of bed and face the family. He didn't really feel like doing much of anything. Kevin just wanted to lay in bed and pretend he was twenty years younger and last night's misunderstanding with Devlin hadn't happened.

He didn't even move when Gwen rolled over and tried to coax him into one of their favorite morning activities. But Kevin just pretended to still be asleep. After several attempts to get him interested Gwen finally gave up and got up to start her day, muttering something about neglecting karate practice anyway. Kevin continued to lay in bed long after she left.

Everything seemed so fine and resolved that day Devlin broke down and cried into his shoulder that he didn't want Kevin to go, that he wanted the chance to get to know his father. But every time they were in the same room together they were awkward at best and argumentative or snarly at worst. Academically, Kevin knew that issues like theirs couldn't be fixed over night and Devlin admitting that he wanted him to stay was only the first step, not the complete solution. This fact he was aware of. But Kevin was not a very rational or academic person, so while he was aware of that fact, he refused to understand or believe it.

He wanted things between him and Devlin to be easy because he felt they _should_ be easy. They were the only two Osmosians on Earth. The only two people on the world like themselves. They should be able to bond through that simple fact alone and -if not have a proper father-son relationship- at least be friends. But Devlin resented his Osmosian side and blamed Kevin for everything he perceived to be 'wrong' with him.

Admittedly, Kevin also blamed himself for everything that was wrong with Devlin. But it was a paradoxical perception because Kevin also thought Devlin was perfect and that there couldn't possibly be anything wrong with him. Any possible flaw in the kid wasn't actually a flaw of the boy's but a flaw of Kevin's instead.

All the self-hate Kevin had didn't exactly help their relationship either. That was another fact Kevin was academically aware of but in all practicality was unable to do anything about. Kevin Levin couldn't stop hating himself any more than the Earth could stop revolving around the sun. Even before Devlin was born Kevin was hating himself. Heck! Even before he and Gwen moved in together, he was hating himself. That was something that would just never change.

Kevin laid in bed reflecting on his many faults and failings, wallowing in a cloud of self-loathing until he heard the air-horn Devlin used to wake Ben's brat every morning. Like heck was he going to sleep in later than Tennyson's immature and juvenile spawn. He rolled out of be, pulled his PJ pants back on and went to join the family for breakfast.

He entered the kitchen to find Devlin already sitting down, reading a book. The kid was a bookworm, just like his mother.

Kevin sat down in the vacant chair next to the kid. Max set a plate down in front of him. Alien food this time. So much for normal bacon and eggs. It looked like that phase of his release was over. Kevin poked at the terrestrial whole-wheat toast slathered with kessle butter and a fried yhetti egg on top.

"Its better than it looks." Devlin informed him, not looking up from his book. Kevin noticed that he had a half-eaten portion of the same thing on his own plate.

"Its good for when you're feeling down." Max added.

Kevin blinked back at the older man. "Who said I was feeling down?"

"I did." Gwen entered, freshly showered after her morning karate practice with Devlin, and already dressed for the day in a practical pants-suit and conservative blouse. "You seemed down since last night and then you refused… my attention this morning."

It was impossible for Kevin to hide anything from Gwen. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten that.

"Thank you for using a clean euphemism around me." Devlin's eyes seemed to be staring intently at his book, but they weren't moving. He wasn't reading it anymore, just using it as an excuse to not make eye contact with either of his parents.

Kenny entered the kitchen then, dressed in jeans and an inside-out t-shirt. He was about to flop down in his usual seat at the table before realizing that Kevin was once again sitting in his seat. He glared down at the older man. "He's in my seat again."

"Kenny just sit on my other side." Devlin snapped with sudden and inexplicable impatience.

"But that's where Aunt Gwendolyn sits." The younger boy protested. This wasn't how they did things. Kevin was throwing off all of their normal routines.

"Its okay, Kenny." Gwen offered a patient smile. "I'm actually heading out right now anyway. I want to get to the office early to deal with any backlash over Kevin's Pardon."

She ruffled Kenny's hair and pushed him down in the chair. Then she bent down and kissed her son on the cheek. "Have fun at school." Then moved to Kevin and gave him a not-so-chase kiss on the lips. "Play nice."

Gwen left.

Devlin marked his page and closed the book. "We should get going too."

"But I just sat down!" Kenny whined.

"Then eat quickly." Devlin said as if that should have been obvious. "Ride leaves in ten minutes."

Max gave Kenny a waffle. An ordinary, terrestrial waffle. The kind of food he could hold in one hand and eat in the car -if Devlin ever allowed food in his car, which he did not. Kenny gobbled it up quickly.

"Do you want me to drive you?" Kevin offered, already knowing the answer. But he had to ask anyway. He never did get the chance to drive his son to school while he was growing up. Sure enough, Devlin's only response was to look at Kevin as if he'd just sprouted a second head, like the most ridiculous thing in the world was right before him. Then he shook his head and walked out of the kitchen. Kevin sighed. "Where's Tennyson?"

"Already left on patrol." Max informed him as Kenny finished swallowing his waffled and bolted from the kitchen after his older cousin. The two men were now in the kitchen alone. "Looks like its just you and me today."

Kevin suddenly realized that he had absolutely nothing to do. That had never happened to him before. Usually, whenever he had some free time, he would work on his car. But his car was currently speeding through the city's skylanes en rout to Bellwood Public High School. Ideally, he could work on the new car he planned to construct. Except that he didn't have many -or any- of the necessary parts to start. He could cannablize bits and pieces from the other cars or the Rust Bucket, but those were just pieces. He couldn't take a frame from them, or take apart their engines to build his own. -Well, he _could_. But that would piss everyone else off. So, if he couldn't start on his new car and he didn't have any big bad alien menace to rush off and fight… what was he going to do with his day?

"So… what do you do?" He asked.

Max looked mildly amused. "You mean, how do I pass the unbearably dull spans of time between morning and afternoon when everyone is gone and I have no squabbles and dramas to mediate and nothing better to do?"

"Yes. That." Kevin nodded.

"Well, I start with the dishes." He shrugged as if that should have been obvious. "Then I move on to the wiping down the stove and the table. Maybe I'll do the laundry if either of the boys have laundry -which they always do."

Kevin was none to thrilled by the prospect of being reduced to a mundane domestic servant. Was that what happened when they became unnecessary? When they were to old, or to untrustworthy to fight evil and save the world?

"I also monitor and regulate the Null Void chamber." Max added as a casual after-thought. As if it was no big deal.

"Oh! I can do that!" Kevin perked up.

Max offered an apologetic smile. "Unfortunately, you can't. I'm sorry, Kevin, but you don't have clearance to be anywhere near the Null Void controls."

Of course he didn't. The Plumbers would never allow a terrorist like him anywhere near their equipment. Earth might have pardoned him and he might have been returned to his pre-arrested status of being a normal citizen. But the Plumbers were an organization that spanned multiple planets, and galaxies across the universe. While he was on Earth he was safe and they couldn't touch him, but that also didn't mean they had to allow him near their sensitive equipment.

"I understand." He growled.

"You wanna do the laundry?" Max offered.

"No."

…

But Kevin ended up doing the laundry anyway.

If for no other reason than he had nothing better to do.

It wasn't the first thing he attempted to do to pass his day.

At first, Kevin decided to work on the Rust Bucket. Cooper had shot though the cockpit during their short skirmish to rescue Gwen from him and it needed a new steering column, paneling, consoles, and a windshield. All of which were pieces that had to be ordered. All and all, the most Kevin could do was pull out the charred, broken, or otherwise unusable parts to make room for the new ones when they finally came.

By the time that was done it was almost lunch time and Kevin retreated from the hanger for a beer and a sandwich.

That was how he ended up in the living room on the couch, flipping through the TV channels, trying to find anything of interest. But the channels were all different. The shows were all strange. He didn't recognize any of the actors. Or understand any of the jokes or pop-culture references. He was to far removed from society. Eventually, he gave up on the TV and as soon as he finished his sandwich and beer, turned the TV off and left the room.

Kevin stood in the hall way for a few moments of indecision, wondering what the heck he was supposed to do with himself. There wasn't anything that he could do in the hanger. There was nothing on TV to watch. Max wouldn't let him help with any Plumbers work. He had absolutely nothing to do.

For the first time in his life, Kevin Ethan Levin felt useless.

He went to find Max.

"Alright." He said. "I'll do it. I'll do the laundry."

Because, really, he had absolutely _nothing_ better to do and that was sad.

"Great. Here ya go." And Max passed him a hamper overflowing with cloths that stank of stale and distinctly male sweat. "The boys always have an over-abundance of dirty cloths after they come back from the Weekend Academy. Especially socks. I don't know what it is up there that makes their feet _stink_ so badly. And don't forget to check all the pockets before throwing it in. Kenny has a habit of leaving things in his pockets. He's as bad as Ben."

Max left him to his devices.

With a sigh of resignation, Kevin got to work sorting the lights from darks, and the colors from the whites -because, back in the day, Gwen would flay him alive if he put one of his black shirts in with her white blouses.

It was cute. Someone -probably Gwen, maybe Max- had lovingly ironed name labels into the collar or waistband of each of the boy's articles. Kevin was not surprised to find that Tennyson's brat dressed mostly in shades of white and green, while his own kid wore almost all black. He and Devlin had surprisingly similar tastes. Also, black showed dirt and blood less -it was practical.

As per Max's advice, Kevin began going through the pockets of every pair of pants, shirt, and jacket he found. True enough, Kenny had chopsticks, spare change, movie ticket stubs, and heaps and heaps of hard candies stuffed in his pockets. Devlin's pockets, in contrast, were stark empty. Not even lint. Kevin was about to just give up on checking his kid's pockets and save himself a bit of time ('cause, ya know, he had so little of it to waste now) when he felt something in a jeans pocket.

Kevin withdrew a plain white business card exactly identical to the one Kevin still had sitting in his borrowed jacket. It was Proctor Servantis' card. What was Devlin doing with Servantis' card? Did he somehow take it from Kevin?

He abandoned the laundry and returned to the bedroom he shared with Gwen to find his jacket. Sure enough, Kevin's own copy of the card was still there. In the pocket where he'd left it. Devlin had his own copy of Servantis' card. How did he get it? Kevin didn't remember the man giving one to Devlin at the Pardon Ceremony. He did complement him on his fighting, however. What kind of game was the Proctor playing?

Kevin remembered the feeling Servantis gave him at the Pardon Ceremony. That strange feeling of unclear and indistinct danger. That there was something wrong with him that Kevin had to keep far, far away from. Like he should run, run away and never look back. Servantis couldn't get Kevin for his mysterious 'team' so he was going after Devlin instead? Now he was trying to sink his pincers into his son! No! Kevin wouldn't allow it. He would not! Kevin didn't spend months trying not to absorb Gwen while she was pregnant, terrorize half the galaxy, absorb the powers and abilities of 11,000 species, throw away his friendship with his best friend, and spend sixteen years in the Null Void just to have his baby manipulated and taken advantage of by an oily conman with indistinct motivations and shady goals.

Suppressing a snarl, Kevin shoved both cards into his pocket.

"Max!" He roared, voice reverberating through the corridors. "I need a ride!"

…

It was one of those bright sunny afternoons where you didn't really care that you had to stay late after school because your cousin had soccer practice. The sky was clear, the sun was warm, but there was a pleasant breeze that kept everything nice and cool so that no one got overheated.

Devlin sat on the bleachers, reading one of his many books, and waited for Kenny's soccer practice to let out.

Kenny might have gotten his love of soccer from his father, but his devotion and discipline for the game actually came from his stepmother, Julie. She was a professional tennis player and showed Kenny that a person can have a stable and fun career as a professional athlete. So, while she would usually attend a country club to practice, Julie switched her routine and started taking Kenny to the park where he could practice his soccer instead. She felt it was important for him to have a hobby that didn't involve getting the crap beaten out of him by aliens.

That was something that Devlin whole heartedly agreed with. It was why he had his car and his books. Hobbies that didn't involve getting the crap beaten out of him by aliens, mutants, or monsters. It was why Devlin never complained about having to stay late after school on Mondays and Wednesdays so that Kenny could attend his practice with the school's team.

Devlin turned the page in his book.

Someone sat down next to him.

Devlin looked up. No one ever sat next to him voluntarily. Not unless they were being forced to by a teacher or a seating chart. Even before Kevin was released from the Null Void, no one wanted to sit next to him.

"Lovely day." Proctor Servantis offered what Devlin assumed was supposed to be a friendly smile. It didn't look quite right on his mingled human and alien features. "Have you given any thought to my offer."

"Dude, its been, like, a day." The boy closed his book.

Sevantis _tsk_ 'ed. "Deportment, Devlin. Just because we're not at the Academy is no reason for you to forget your manners."

"Sir." He corrected. "It's only been a day. I haven't had time to consider."

"I imagined as much." Servantis nodded, as if that was what he'd been expecting. "Have you figured out yet whether or not you inherited your father's power to absorb the abilities of others?"

"You know I can't test something like that." Devlin shook his head. "The only way I _can_ test it is to try and absorb another living thing. I won't do that. Its not right."

"You feel strongly about that?" Servantis asked.

"I do." Devlin nodded.

The older man sighed and stood. "Well then I can't make you do anything you don't want to do. A shame. I was rather looking forward to working with you." He took a step down the bleachers but paused. "Hm. Is that your father in the parking lot?"

Following the Proctor's gaze, Devlin's book slipped from his fingers, bounced off the bleacher bench and clattered to the dirt beneath them. It was indeed Kevin Levin climbing out of Grandpa Max's old, beat up winnebago. Devlin bolted to his feet. What the hell was Kevin doing here!? At his school! And what was Grandpa thinking bringing him here? What the kriffing hell!? Devlin hopped -practically jumped- down from the bleachers to intercept Kevin before he could make it onto the field, Servantis not far behind him.

Kevin saw Devlin and for a brief moment, a look of relief crossed his face. But it was there and gone in a second the minute his eyes focused on Proctor Servantis half a step behind him.

"Stay the hell away from my kid!" Kevin snarled and he swung at Servantis. A sudden angry punch. A little over extended. Kevin only succeeded in throwing himself off balance and stumbling as Servantis sidestepped the blow.

Devlin stepped between them before Kevin could recover his balance and attack again. "Whoa! What the kriff is going on? Kevin, you can't be here. You can't be at my school."

Kevin grabbed Devlin roughly by the arm and pulled the boy behind him. He didn't yet know why every instinct he had screamed that Servantis was not to be trusted, but he sure as heck knew he didn't want the guy around his son. "Did he hurt you? Did he say anything weird to you?"

"No need to overreact, Kevin." Servantis offered another one of those unsettling friendly smiles. It did not succeed in calming Kevin one bit. In fact, it seemed to just agitate the Osmosian further. "I was simply offering young Devlin here the same invitation I extended to you."

"What?" Devlin blinked. "You offered him the job too!"

Well, there went his theory that Servantis was putting a team together to take Kevin down. That certainly wasn't happening. Not if he tried to recruit Kevin too. That did beg the question of what exactly this 'coming storm' was if not another rampage by Kevin 11,000?

"Devlin doesn't wanna join your team either." Kevin growled, hand tightening around his son's arm.

"I can speak for myself, ya know!" Devlin snapped, trying -and failing- at pulling himself free from his father overprotective -and mildly painful- grasp. "Let go!"

It was at that moment that Max finally made his way out of the winnebago -he was an old man, after all, he couldn't move as fast as he used to. He joined them on the edge of the parking lot, just short of the soccer field. "I think we all should take a moment to calm down. Servantis, what are you doing here?"

"Max Tennyson, long time, no see." Servantis nodded to the retired Plumber. "Phillip sends his regards, by the way. Or at least, I'm sure he would if he knew I'd be seeing you today. I assure you, my errand here today was just to follow up on an offer I made to young Devlin here. But Kevin seems to have gotten it in his head that I mean the worst. I trust you can talk some sense into him."

Yeah. Right. If Max were able to talk sense into Kevin, then he never would have gone on his terrorist rampage sixteen years ago. Nobody could talk sense into Kevin. Not even Gwen, though he did listen to her more than any one else in their circle. But Kevin was just unsensible. Once he got an idea in his head there was no getting it out again without having to go through a long and tedious episode of violence and mayhem at which point a lesson may or may not be learned -on either side.

"He was just offering me a job. Okay! Jeez!" Devlin explained, still pulling against his father's hold. "So that I could skip the Academy and become a Plumber sooner!"

"Tennyson said they changed the rules so you can't be a Plumber until you reach the age of majority." Kevin reminded the boy, never taking his eyes off Servantis.

"That's right." Max agreed. "Devlin is still a minor. Whatever job you want him for, you can't have him."

"Ah, but there you're mistaken." This time, Servantis' smile was by no means friendly or pleasant. But was just as frighteningly unsettling. "You see, I don't have to answer to anyone save the High Magistrata herself. As such, I have the freedom to augment the rules as I see fit. So, if young Devlin is willing -and if he can do the job- I am more than able to recruit him."

"Like hell you will!" Kevin snarled.

"Why don't you let me decide that for myself!?" Devlin snapped and to wrench himself free from his father's vice-like grip, Devlin tried something he'd never done before.

He closed one hand around the wrist holding him and used his powers. It wasn't quite the same as absorbing raw energy. Energy had a life of its own, but in a metaphorical sense. This had a _life_ of its own! More than a life to it, like there was a personality to the energy, almost. It was so jarring. No wonder absorbing to much power from living things made Osmosians crazy! Devlin let go almost the moment he started.

But it was enough. Kevin was so shocked that his own son would try to absorb him that he let the kid go. "Devlin-? What-?"

Devlin was looking at his hand as if he'd never seen it before. There was no physical difference. At least, none that he could perceive. But then again, he and his father looked so much alike already that even if he had successfully absorbed any physical traits from him, they might not show. But at least now he knew he _could_ absorb life-energy. That was what Proctor Servantis wanted, right? And it looked like he didn't have to terrorize any small animals or innocent people to find that out.

"Looks like I can do the job after all." He said, looking up from his hand.

Servantis smirked in triumph.

Devlin took a step towards him.

"Don't even think about it!" Kevin snarled. He closed his hand around the closest metal object to them which happened to be the chainlink fence running the perimeter of the soccer field. Kevin's body turned a silver-gray color as he absorbed the metal and converted it into armor. "You have no idea what I went through for this kid. There is no way in _hell_ I'm letting you take him away from me."

That was when Kevin attacked.

For real. Not some sloppy and angry punch, but a real and proper attack. Slashing the air with one arm -morphed into a long blade- to once again separate Servantis from Devlin, and then a quick wide horizontal strike with the other hand -morphed into a hammer.

Servantis threw up a hand, red energy like lightning crackling from the gem on his forehead to create a field of kinetic energy to block the blow. If he hadn't, it was quite possible Kevin might have smashed his skull in. But then again, Kevin always was a vicious warrior. He played for keeps and he went for blood. It was one of the reasons why he was so effective, and one of the reasons why Servantis wanted him back. Devlin had the spry energy of youth and seemed enthusiastic, but he lacked his father's merciless ferocity. Servantis couldn't help but smile. Ever after all these years, Kevin was still a beast.

Drawn by the red light or cracking energy, the Bellwood Public soccer team paused in their scrimmage to watch the fight unfolding on the edge of their field. While the rest of the team began wondering aloud what was going on, asking each other who those guys were and what they were doing at their school, Kenny reacted instantly. He dropped the ball he's just caught and abandoned the goal. Toggling through his faux-Omnitrix as he sprinted to join Devlin.

Devlin, for his part, was still trying to get between Kevin and Servantis and stop them from killing each other. But each time the boy would think he had them separated, Kevin would grab him again and pull him behind him or toss him out of the way. Always trying to keep the kid as far from Servantis as he could.

Kenny caught Devlin as Kevin -once again- threw him out of the way. "What's going on? Who's side are we on?"

"Neither." Devlin growled. "Just make them stop."

"On it." Nodded the younger boy.

He transformed into Goop and ejected two thick squirts of slime from his body to stick Kevin and Servantis' feet to the ground. Finding themselves suddenly off balance, both men flailed for a moment before falling face first into each other.

Their forehead knocked together with a hard crack and there was a spark of that same red lightning from the jewel on Servantis' forehead.

"Okay, what the heck is going on here!?" Kenny demanded now that they weren't trying to kill each other anymore. "Kevin, what are you doing at our school? You can't be here!"

Groaning, Kevin held his head and ignored the boy, the metal melting from his body. Everything was all foggy and swimming. Like he had a concussion, but he knew he couldn't have hit Servantis that hard. …Servantis! Kevin remembered him now! Back when Devlin was still a new born and he was on his mad quest to get back to the Forge of Creation and absorb a baby Celestialsapien, Servantis had shown up and reminded him of a job he was supposed to do. A job he failed at when he was a kid. If he succeeded, Servantis promised to help him save Devlin. But before that…

"S-Servantis…" Kevin groaned. "You…"

"Ah, it looks like the fog is lifting." The Proctor observed. "Welcome back, Agent Levin."

"What!?" Devlin blinked. Kevin was already a member of Servantis' team? No way!

Kevin continued holding his head. None of this was making sense. Memories swam together. Blending into one another. The lines blurring so that he wasn't sure what was what anymore. Him coming home alone to reconcile with his mother after years of estrangement. ' _Hi, Mom. Um… I'm sorry?_ ' Servantis bringing him home… ' _Leah, its been to long! Look who I found._ ' And doing something to her head. Doing something to _his_ head.

"Max…" Kevin moaned. "What's this guy doing to my head?"

Max rushed up to the Osmosian and caught him just before he could fall backward and pull something -his feet were still bound by Goop's slime. "Kenny, let them go."

The boy did as he was told and Goop circled the men, taking the sticky slime back into himself before reverting back to his human base form. "I still have no idea what's going on."

"Servantis came to follow up on the offer he made at the Academy. Kevin showed up already nutty and attack him." Devlin explained, quick and concise.

"So… there's no bad guy?" Kenny asked.

"He is." Kevin pointed to Servantis.

While at the exact same time, Devlin pointed to Kevin and said, "He is."

There was a beat of silence in which all three men glared at each other while Max and Kenny looked on at a loss for what to do. Their little skirmish hadn't gone unnoticed and Kenny's soccer team was already pulling out their phones and snapping pictures and videos of Kevin 11,000 attacking a Proctor ranked Plumber. It would be all over Spacebook and Twitter in under a minute. Not good for Kevin. Or Devlin and Kenny's reputations at school or the Academy for that matter.

"Why don't we move this somewhere else?" Max suggested.

Kevin appeared to ignore him. He continued to glare threateningly at Servantis. "I won't let you use my son like you used me!"

It was coming back to him now. He knew what Servantis wanted and what he planned.

Servantis huffed and climbed to his feet. "It seems you've forgotten yourself, Kevin. You used to be so devoted to our cause. To protecting the universe from the Coming Storm."

"Stop calling him that!" Kevin snarled, also jumping back to his feet. "He has a name!"

"One which I won't use here. Mixed company, Kevin." Servantis reminded him.

Kevin lunged at the Proctor again. This time going low, knocking the man's legs out from under him. Servantis went down and Kevin made sure he stayed there, pinning him down with one knee on the chest. He gripped around for something to absorb, but there was nothing he could reach without letting Servantis up so Kevin gave up on using his powers and just wailed on the older man instead. Punching him in the face.

"Stop! You're killing him!" Devlin tackled Kevin. Launching himself at his father, throwing him off the Proctor. Both Osmosians went tumbling to the ground.

Devlin recovered first. Springing back to his feet with a sort of lean back and jump maneuver. But Kevin wasn't far behind him, climbing to his feet with far less grace and fluidity. Devlin wasn't quite sure what he expected Kevin to do. He was fairly confident his father wouldn't harm him, at least not seriously. Through out the whole fight thus far, Kevin had been trying to keep him out of it. But, at the same time, Devlin had to remind himself that he'd only just met his father two weeks ago and didn't know the man all that well. He couldn't know what he would do. This was Kevin 11,000 he was dealing with, after all.

Taking the initiative and not letting Kevin have the opportunity to get a hit in, Devlin did the only thing he could do when fighting an enemy of Kevin 11,000's caliber. He transformed. Shirt tearing as his ribcage expanded and arms burst from his sides. His spine elongating into a tail. Wings spiting from his back. His face aching as his eyes changed shape and number, displacing his sinuses.

Now in his mutant form, Devlin faced off against his father. Raising his Pyronite arm, he shot a bolt of fire at the older man, which Keivn had to duck and roll to avoid. He tumbled across the parking lot pavement until he was back at the chain link fence that ran the perimeter of the field. Closing a hand between the interlocking links, Kevin once again absorbed the metal from it, covering himself in a silvery-gray armor.

"Stay out of this, Devlin!" Kevin growled at his son. "You don't know what's going on here!"

"I know you just came out of nowhere and attacked a Proctor ranked Plumber!" The kid snarled back. "What the hack is wrong with you!?"

Without warning, Kevin jumped on the boy, holding him to the ground by the wrists of his Volpimancer arms. He morphed the metal of his armor into clamps to hold the boy in place and pulled his hands back, leaving the metal where it was. Devlin was effectively tied down. "Stay down!"

He turned back to Servantis.

But Devlin didn't stay down. Two of his arms were bound, but he still had two others. The kid used his Heatblast powers to melt the metal shackles holding him down, wincing as he singed his fur. In moments, Devlin was back on his feat and once again between his father and the Proctor.

It seemed like Kevin was refusing to calm down no matter what anyone said, did, or tried. He was determined to get at Servantis and wouldn't stop until the older man was dead. Or so it seems to Devlin. It was clear what he had to do. He had to get the Proctor out of here and away from Kevin. Maybe then _someone_ could start talking and they could figure out what the heck was going on. The last Devlin heard, Kevin had no recollection of Servantis. At all. Not even from his rampage across the galaxy. Now all of a sudden it seemed he used to work for the Proctor and wanted to kill the man?

"Proctor," Devlin began, "can you get to my car? Its the green and black one."

Servantis looked towards the parking lot and spotted the GTO Judge easily. It did rather stand out against all the plain gray or beige sedans and station wagons. "It suits you."

"Get to my car and I'll get you outta here." Devlin informed him. He still wasn't entirely sure if he was going to accept Servantis' offer yet. He liked the idea of becoming a Plumber early, but at the same time, there were a few things that just didn't add up about the man. But this wasn't about that right now. Right now, Devlin's main concern was making sure his father didn't beat to death a high ranking Plumber officer in his school's parking lot. "Go now!"

Sevantis paused for only half a second to really take stock of what was happening. The son, pitting himself against the father to help a man he -in all practicality- knew absolutely nothing about. In his own mind, Devlin had already decided that Kevin was the bad guy and so anyone that Kevin wanted to harm was either one of the good guys at best or a the very least, an innocent victim. Very interesting. He wondered how he could use that to his advantage.

Suppressing the smirk that was tugging at the corners of his lips, Servantis did as the boy told him. He sprinted across the parking lot towards the boy's car. It was unlocked and he wrenched the door open and hopped in the passenger seat.

Kevin's hackles rose at seeing _that man_ near his car -near his son's car! He took a step to follow Servantis but Devlin blocked him. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Kevin."

Using his Petrosapien fist, he threw one mean punch directly into Kevin's face, breaking the older man's nose and knocking him temporarily unconscious. Kevin fell to the ground, bleeding but still. Devlin looked up at Kenny and Max, paused as if he wanted to say something but changed his mind and dashed to his car to the waiting Servantis. The kid fished in the pocket of his ripped jeans for his keys -tearing the pocket with his Volpimancer claws in the process- and tossed them to Servantis whom still sat in the passenger seat.

"Slide over." The kid told him. "I can't drive in this form."

Servantis didn't hesitate. Taking the offered keys, he climbed over the stick shift into the driver's seat and waited for Devlin's hulking form to climb in. "I imagine your father won't be to pleased when he wakes up."

"That's my problem. Right now you need to get out of here."

"I know exactly where to go." Servantis informed him. "I hope you won't mind coming with me."

…


	6. Island of Doctor Moreau

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Roots

Chapter Six: The Island of Dr. Moreau

 _Running across a purple asteroid under a red sky. Kevin's lungs burred. How long had it been since he escaped? Since he left Kwarrel to die and slunk off like a coward! Hours? Days? He didn't know. Everything was strange and unfamiliar. He'd been to the Null Void before. Trapped by Tennyson. But he'd never been to this part before._

 _A Vulpimancer jumped out of nowhere and pounced on him. Kevin just barely managed to react in time to roll away before its claws could tear through him. He absorbed the stone of the asteroid they were one and prepared himself for the inevitable struggle for his very life._

 _But then, something incredible happened._

 _He was saved!_

 _Three soldiers. Kevin knew they must be soldiers because they were all wearing matching suits. All black with helmets that obscured their faces. They killed the Vulpimancer and took Kevin back to their base. His relief at being saved was short lived as the sudden fear they they might take him back to prison set in. He didn't think he could escape a second time. What would Morgg do to him once he got him back? Now that Kwarrel wasn't around to protect him anymore._

 _They did not take him back to prison._

 _Instead they brought him to their leader. A middle aged man -human. With a high forehead and receding hair line. Dark hair and dark eyes just like Kevin's._

 _"What's this?" The man asked._

 _One of the soldiers removed their helmet to reveal that she was a woman with a short no-nonsense pageboy style haircut. "Found him out in Beta Quadrant. A Vulpimancer was trying to get at him and he absorbed the asteroid. Gotta have that OSM-1 gene you were telling us about, right?"_

 _"Extraordinary." The man bent down to get a better look at Kevin. He held the boy's chin in one hand and ran the fingers of his other through Kevin's long dirty hair. "What's your name, boy?"_

 _"Kevin E. Levin." He answered, glaring defiantly at the older man. "Who're you?"_

 _"I knew a Levin once." He muttered. "You must be Leah's son. You have her eyes. Tell me, Kevin, what did Leah tell you about your father?"_

 _Kevin was taken aback. That was an odd question. Abrupt and out of nowhere. Completely irrelevant. What would this guy care who his father was? "Nothing. Except that the bastard skipped out on her before I was born."_

 _The man chuckled darkly to himself, as if what Kevin said was ironically amusing. "Ah, the lies we tell ourselves…" He muttered. "Well, Kevin, it just so happens that I am in need of someone with your unique abilities. Would you like to join my team? You and I, together, could change the world…"_

 _…_

Kenny tore off strips of toilet paper and dabbed at the blood streaming out of Kevin's nose, while Grandpa drove the winnebago. They weren't going after Devlin and Servantis, no. Max was taking them home. Back to the Plumber's Headquarters. Max knew he and Kenny, by themselves, didn't stand a chance against Servantis and his Rooters. So, unless Devlin came home on his own, there was no way they could charge after them and take him back.

Max understood why his eldest grandson took off with him. Devlin didn't know what was going on, he didn't understand why his father attacked him so suddenly and abruptly -and Max, himself was also a little fuzzy on the details, and he had no reason not to trust Servantis. After all, he was a high ranked Plumbers officer, why would Devlin think anything was suspicious? What wasn't suspicious Kevin hating and, or, feeling threatened by a high ranking Plumber officer. Kevin was an ex-con whom had been imprisoned by the Plumbers for almost two decades. Devlin had every reason to trust Servantis and every reason to distrust Kevin.

Stuffing the tissue up Kevin's nostrils, Kenny finished his first aid on the unconscious Osmosian and moved up front to take the passenger seat next to Grandpa. "So, what are we doing exactly? Do you know what's going on? Where did Servantis take Devlin? Why did he go with him? Why does Kevin hate him so much? I still have no idea what's going on!"

"We're taking Kevin home." Max supplied, very, very calmly. "Once he wakes up, he's gonna tell us exactly why he flew off the handle. Then we're gonna decide the best way to get Devlin back. I don't care what Servantis says, he's still a minor, he can't join any active Plumbers units. Not yet."

…

 _But to change the world, they needed an army._

 _Servantis brought in other kids Kevin's age. Orphans and street kids. The lost, forgotten, or unwanted dregs of the system that nobody would miss. A boy who's parents were killed in a gang war. A brother and sister that ran away from their abusive father. A boy with nowhere else to go. Nobody would notice them. Nobody would miss them. So Servantis took them, brought them to Kevin who gave them powers. Made them strong. They were his. His team._

 _One at a time, Servantis hooked them to a machine of his own invention. With an alien on one end, the kid on the other and Kevin in between. It used Kevin's powers of absorption, amplified them and syphoned the alien's power or abilities into the human child, making them an alien-human hybrid of one variety or another. A Tetramand. A Kineceleran. A Quilqupine. A Pyronite. Kevin remade them. Taking otherwise weak, powerless, helpless children and making them strong, powerful, weapons._

 _The first people he ever felt comfortable applying the word 'friends' to. They weren't just his team. They were his partners. His roommates. His family. They were the same. Children from the streets. Cast aside and forgotten. Alan. Helen. Pierce. Manny._

 _How could he have forgotten them?_

 _When he, Tennyson, and Gwen crossed paths with Helen and Manny as teenagers it was like he was meeting them for the first time. But they had already known each other for so long. He made them what they were. How could he have forgotten that?_

…

Transforming into Four Arms, Kenny carried Kevin out of Grandpa Max's winnebago and into the living room. He deposited the unconscious Osmosian on the couch. "Jezus, he's heavy! What is this guy made of?"

"The same thing every ones made of." Max answered. "Just… slightly more of it. Now hush, I'm calling Ben."

While Max turned his attention to the com, Kenny took up a seat opposite the couch and watched Kevin. It was well past time for him to wake up. Devlin hit hard, but he couldn't have hit Kevin that hard. He should have regained consciousness by now. But he didn't. The Osmosian just laid on the couch, turing and tossing slightly, and muttering nonsense in his sleep.

…

 _The mission was a failure. All their carful work and planning was a bust. Their painstakingly constructed team was still no match for the Coming Storm. Servantis decided it was time for a change of tactic. It was time to go for the long con. The sleeper cell._

 _Servantis tracked down Kevin's mother -whom he had run away from a couple of years before. She recognized the sullen and broody looking boy on her doorstep instantly as her estranged son and fell to her knees hugging him. The story he told Tennyson -and later Servantis- about his parents kicking him out because he was a freak had never been true. Leah never abandoned him. Kevin ran away. Now he was back and she was overjoyed._

 _Leah looked up to thank the man who returned her baby to her and froze. She recognized him too._

 _It had been many years. He was older now and possessed alien features he hadn't had before. But Leah would know him no matter his form. She grabbed Kevin roughly by the arm and pulled her son behind her, placing herself between her baby and Servantis._

 _"Hector!" She snarled._

 _"Leah. Its been to long!" He smiled back at her. "Look who I found."_

 _"I told you before, Hector, stay the hell away from my son!" She growled._

 _With an exasperated sigh, Servantis shook his head. "Don't worry, Leah my dear. You won't remember I was ever here."_

 _And he did something Kevin did not expect. Servantis closed the distance between them. Ignoring Leah's protests and struggles, he wrapped one arm around her and pulled her into a forceful and unwilling kiss. His telepathic power cracking around them with thin crimson lightning. When he finally pulled away, Leah's eyes were glassy. Like she was sleep walking or in a waking dream._

 _"Kevin came home of his own volition." Servantis told her. "He came home to reconcile with you and you welcomed him home with love and affection."_

 _"Welcome… home… Kevin." She echoed in a slow, almost dreamy voice._

 _"What did you do to her!?" Kevin demanded. He might have run away from her. He might have demolished her house when he did. He might have tried to kill her then boyfriend. But she was still his mother and while Kevin left her years ago, he still loved her. She gave him life, after all._

 _"Merely setting your cover." Servanits informed him. He knelt down to be on eye level with the twelve-year-old Osmosian. "Now its your turn, Kevin."_

 _Servantis lightly pressed his forehead to the boys. Then his memory went fuzzy._

 _…_

Kevin groaned. He felt like he'd just been punched by a battering ram.

He reached a hand up to his face and felt the tissues stuck in his nose. Well, that explained why it was hard to breath. With a sigh, Kevin pulled the bloody tissues out and stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling above him. He wasn't quite sure where he was. He wasn't quite sure _when_ he was either, but one crisis at a time, please.

The last thing he remembered was his former partner and mentor dropping him off at his mother's house. No… wait. That couldn't be right. That happened a long, long time ago. He was still a child back then and Kevin was pretty sure he was an adult now. Uttering a second groan, Kevin massaged his temples in an effort to clear his head.

There was a crackle of power when his hands touched his head and his fingers came away with a slight red spark between them. Servantis' psychic power. _That_ was right! _That_ was the last thing that happened to him! Servantis was trying to take his son. Take him away the same way he took all the other kids. Manny, Helen, Pierce, and Alan. Servantis probably wanted Devlin for the same job he used Kevin for back then. Building him an army of half human, half alien soldiers to combat the Coming Storm.

Coming Storm. T'ch. That storm came and went and, oh look!, the universe is still here. If Servantis was still after him, it wasn't for the greater good, or the fate of the universe, or the whole of existence anymore. It was nothing more than a personal vendetta. Kevin knew a thing or two about personal vendettas. In fact, he was seriously considering starting a new one. Trying to take his son from him. Manipulating Devlin into fighting against him. Driving off with the boy to who-knows-where. Yes. The next time Kevin saw Servantis he was gong to rip the alien right back out of him and then beat the guy to within an inch of his life.

But first he would get Devlin back.

Kevin tried to sit up. Quickly decided he was still to dizzy and laid back down. He didn't bounce back as quickly as he used to. But then again, he was getting old. A fact he did not particularly like having to admit to himself. It made sense why Servantis would want Devlin instead of him now. Fighting purposeless private wars was a young man's game.

There were voices approaching in the hall. Kevin knew he couldn't sit up, but he could turn his head to face the door and see whoever it was the moment they came in -as if he was in any condition to defend himself if they were an enemy.

Perhaps 'enemy' wasn't the right word. But they were defiantly hostile.

" _What the kriffing heck did you do this time!?_ " Ben stormed into the living room with Kenny and Max on his heels. "I swear to god, Kevin! One month! You couldn't even go one month without causing trouble. What is _wrong_ with you!?"

Kevin might not have been in any condition to fight, but he still never backed down form a fight. Ignoring the dizziness, he forced himself to sit up -because like heck was he gonna have an argument laying down!- and glared up at the Hero of the Universe. Luminescent emerald stare to infinite brown so dark it might as well be black. " _Nothing_ is wrong with me, Tennyson!" He snarled. "I was doing what any parent would do. I was protecting my son from a predator that planned to manipulate and use him."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Proctor mother-kriffing Servantis!" Kevin roared. "He was at Devlin's school!"

Ben blinked at him. "The black spotted Plumber from the Pardon Ceremony? What's he want with Devlin?"

Here Kevin hesitated. He was only just remembering himself and he didn't remember everything yet. He wasn't sure how much he could tell Ben. He wasn't sure how much he _wanted_ to tell Ben. They were friends. But… overall, they spent a great deal more time as enemies. If Kevin gave his narrative of all he now remembered he knew of Proctor Servantis, would Ben even still trust him after it was all over?

Whatever he might have decided, Kevin didn't get the chance to. Because at that moment, Gwen came storming into the room. Still wearing that practical pants suit she'd left the Headquarters in only minus the blazer, hair a bit frazzled, and looking all kinds of pissed off. Her eyes focused on Kevin sitting on the couch with a broken nose and pounced on him for answers and explanations.

"What did you do this time?" She demanded. "Kenny tells me you showed up at Devlin's school and attacked a Plumber! Now Devlin's gone and no one has any idea where he went! And what happened to your face?"

"Y _our_ son happened to my face!" Kevin snapped. To spite the hostility in the room, Kevin couldn't help but be reminded of when Devlin was still a baby with frequent and special needs. Whenever he would start crying that strange inhuman cry of his they would argue over who's turn it was to take care of it. Each of them calling him _'your son', 'no, your son'_ , because they both wanted the other one to get up and make him stop so that they could get back to sleep. Kevin hadn't called Devlin 'your son' in years. It was always 'my son'. It was a true testament to just how frustrated he really was with the boy.

Grabbing a fist full of his ebony hair, Gwen tilted Kevin's face up so that she could get a better look at his injured nose caked in dried blood. "He really did a number on you. Hold still, this'll hurt a little."

She placed two fingers on either side of his nose and popped the cartilage back into place. Kevin jumped. Grabbing both her wrists and pulling her hands off him. "Jezus Christ! A little?"

"But your nose looks normal again." Gwen observed. Apart from the blood, at least. But then, blood on Kevin's face wasn't really anything new. Its just that unusually it wasn't his own.

Gwen put her hands on her hips. "Now someone explain to me what the heck is going on. I want to know where my son is and I want to know right now!"

"Servantis took him." Kevin deadpanned.

"Kenny said Devlin left with him." Gwen shook her head. She hated getting two different stories. It made things difficult. There was a huge difference between leaving with someone and being _taken_ by someone. Two completely different implications.

"Its the same thing." Kevin attempted to stand. "Servantis has him and he's gonna use his powers to make an army of human-alien hybrids. That's why he wanted me -or one of us- because we can do that. Its an Osmosian ability. Graft alien DNA onto human DNA, giving them all the abilities or traits of the alien. And with Devlin's fine control, Servantis might not even have to use his machine to do it."

"Why would he want to give humans alien powers?" Ben asked. Then half a second later realized the absurdity of that particular question coming out of his mouth. The Hero of the Universe and wielder of the Omnitrix should know better. "Said… the guy with the thing that does that. I'm just gonna… yeah. So, army with alien powers. Go on."

"Kevin, how could you know that?" Gwen asked.

"Because-" There he stopped. Not a pause. A full on slamming of the brakes. Did he really wanna tell them this? He would tell Gwen, that Kevin knew he could do. It wasn't like he could hide something like this from her anyway. They slept together and Kevin knew he talked in his sleep. But also, with was something from his past. One of the deeper and darker aspects of it that he'd forgotten for many years, but still one of the things that shaped him over the years. Even if he didn't tell her right this moment, he knew he would tell her anyway because he would want her to know. Ben, on the other hand, he could do without. "Because."

"Because…" Gwen pressed. "Are we gonna get to hear a subject after that conjunction or does your sentence just end there?"

"I used to be one of them. Okay? I was a Rooter." Kevin admitted. "What Servantis needs Devlin for… I know why he wants him and what he's going to do because I used to do it for him. I helped make his Rooters. Gave then the powers they have. That Terroranchula-like thing that attacked my Pardon Ceremony, that was one of them. A Rooter that I helped create. I think his name was Billings, although I don't remember exactly. Some of them took different names after they changed -like Swift. I'm pretty sure her name wasn't Swift before I combined her with an Aerophibian."

"So, you were what? The Igor to Servantis' Dr. Frankenstein?" Ben raised an eyebrow.

"No. I was Dr. Moreau. Yes. I've read a book. Please try not to faint." Even with everything going on, he could still snark. Kevin might have changed a lot -multiple times- over the years. But one thing about him that would never change is that he would always been a deadpan snarker. "All of the original subjects are either our age or older. Servantis must be trying to raise a new -younger- army. That's why he needs Devlin."

"What does he want the army for?" Gwen asked the obvious question.

"What do most half-mad megalomaniacs want powerful armies for?" Kevin shot back. The obvious answer to that was ' _to try and take over the world/galaxy/universe/multiverse_ '. But that wasn't what Servantis wanted. Not his primary goal, at least. Maybe after the great enemy he'd built up in his head was destroyed, when his 'Coming Storm' was gone, maybe then Servantis might turn his army to taking over the universe. Not before. But Kevin wasn't about to tell Ben that. Not Ben. Maybe Gwendolyn. But Kevin wanted to keep Ben out of it.

"So then we charge in there, take out this army before Servantis can make it, and bring Devlin back." Kenny suggested, as if this was the obvious course of action. "If you used to work with him, Kevin, then you've got to know where his base is. Take us there and we'll settle this whole thing before school tomorrow."

Kevin would be lying if he didn't admit that he liked that plan. It was just his type of plan too. Brash, aggressive, and violent. Maybe Tennyson's brat wasn't so bad after all. But it just wasn't practical. They didn't know what else Servantis had up his sleeve. Hidden at their base in the Null Void. Waiting to pounce on unwitting, foolhardy, attempted rescuers. And, he had to check on the others too.

The others he'd made. On Helen and Manny. They had a baby now. Only ten years old. Would Servantis go after their kid like he went after Kevin's? And Alan. Alan also had a daughter. Older. The same age as the boys. A more appropriate age to be drafted into a secret army. Kevin had to check on them, make sure they -and their families- were okay. Because he made them. Because that made them his responsibility. He was their leader and they were his team. A good captain looks out for his crew.

"There's stuff I gotta do first." Kevin tried to leave. "People I gotta see."

"Wait!" Gwen stopped him. "What about Devlin?"

"He'll be safe enough for now." Kevin reassured her, and maybe he was reassuring himself too. "Servantis needs him. He won't risk harming him."

…

It was true.

In fact, Devlin was quite comfortable.

Sitting on an old, vintage 90s, beanbag chair in front of a large wall-screen TV -currently off. The young Osmosian exhaled slowly, willing his body to calm down and return to the shape he preferred. This was another of the many, many things Devlin hated about his mutant form. It took real and conscious effort to shift back into his human form. he couldn't just flip back and forth like flipping a switch. No. He had to meditate. Calm his mind and his body and force the shift back. This mutant form was the form Devlin was born in, in a way it was his 'true form'. Loath, though he was to admit it, his human form was an unnatural one.

Devlin wished Kenny were here. His younger cousin was always the best at getting him to relax and making the shift come sooner.

But they had left Kenny with Grandpa Max and Kevin in the school's parking lot.

Devlin tried to put that out of his mind. He would apologize to Kenny latter. Right now he had to quiet his mind. Turn inward and coax his body to transform back into a human shape. Devlin didn't want to meet the rest of the Rooters looking like… well, looking like one of the things they probably fought on a daily basis.

He inhaled deeply and let it back out again slowly. Regulating his breathing, Devlin focussed on the beanbag chair he was sitting in. Vintage. From the mid-90s, it was actually filled with beans instead of foam like most bean bag furniture was made from now. It was a strange combination of soft but firm beneath him and Devlin studied it. Used it as an anchor while he delved within himself. Found his center.

When Devlin opened his eyes again, he was once again human shaped.

Wearing the remnants of his shredded shirt which was little more than a collar with a few strips hanging down, and his torn jeans which -thankfully- still managed to cover the part of him that needed to be covered, but had burst at the seems around the calves. Devlin lost more clothes to his transformation than to daily ware and tear or laundry mishaps. It was yet another of the many reasons he hated the mutant form he inherited from his father.

Devlin stood, wondering exactly what kind of first impression he was going to give, looking like this. At least he was human, not a monster. That was worth something. Right?

Luckily, he didn't have to worry about that, because the next moment, before Devlin could even reach the door, it opened. Servantis walked in carrying what looked like a folded black combat jumpsuit.

"I imagine you'll be in need of some new clothing." He said. "So I brought you your own Proto-tech armor."

He extended the suit to Devlin who took it in sudden wonder. Proto-tech armor. So this was Proto-tech armor! Devlin had only ever heard of it before. It was supposed to be difficult to make and expensive to acquire. He never dreamed he'd ever get to wear one! Strong and durable enough to protect the wearer from even major explosive shocks, but still pliant and malleable enough to fit almost any body type or expand if the wearer changed shape. It was that last characteristic that Devlin found particularly appealing. 'Costume malfunctions' were a common and reoccurring problem for him.

"I can have this?" He stared up at the Proctor in wide eyed disbelief -and maybe just a dollop of juvenile pleading.

"For now, just to wear." Servantis informed him. "But, if you decide to join my team, its yours to keep. Now this is a bit of a sensitive request, but I require a DNA sample from you."

Devlin looked up, startled. "Huh?"

Servantis quickly clarified. "You have the surplus DNA of ten different aliens in your system. I'd like to do a complete profile on you and map out your sequence. Sort the alien blood from the Osmosian blood. Also to more closely study your Osmosian powers."

"Oh. Okay." Devlin presented his arm.

Servantis produced a syringe and alcohol swab. He dabbed at the inside of Devlin's elbow with the alcohol swab before penetrating his skin with the syringe and withdrawing a sample. Then he pulled out a long Q-tip. "Open your mouth, please." The inside of Devlin's cheek was swabbed and then Servantis was done. "Now, get dressed and I'll tell you all about the Coming Storm."

Servantis left.

It didn't take Devlin long to dress. The Proto-tech armor slipped on easily and fit him like a glove. Wrapping around his body like a second skin. But it wasn't tight or constricting. It still offered him the same freedom of movement he enjoyed regularly. Now dressed, he to exited the room to find Servantis and hear the story of his mysterious 'Coming Storm'.

A woman intercepted him outside his door. Old. Like, older than his father even. Wearing the same Proto-tech armor he was. And a human-alien hybrid like Servantis was, only she was Aerophibian-hybrid while Servantis was a Cerebrocrustacean.

"Devlin Levin." She said. "I'm Swift. Follow me."

She lead him through the corridors of the base to what looked like the command bridge of a Plumbers' space station. Only this station wasn't floating in space. Outside the wide panoramic windows was a blood red sky. Shades of crimson, cardinal, cherry, ruby, and blood swirled without horizon. Asteroids and random bodies of land floated around as if suspended without gravity. Devlin had seen pictures of the Null Void before. He never expected to see the place first hand.

Servantis was already there with another Rooter. "So, Devlin, what do you think of our little set-up here?"

"Its… something else."

"You've already met Swift." Continued the Proctor. "This is Leander. Phillip is on his way with another new recruit."

"Uh, pleased to meet you." Devlin said, feeling a little awkward. He was the only person in the room under the age of sixty.

Why were all the special operations Plumbers stationed in the Null Void so _old_? Didn't they send the Proctor new recruits? Or was the mortality rate just really high among newer -younger- operatives. Was their age not a reflection on the administration's poor staffing, but rather a testament to their skills and prowess? After all, didn't the saying go, ' _Be ware the old man in a profession where most die young_.'?

"So, Devlin, I'm sure you're curious what this is all about." Servantis began. He waved an arm wide to indicate the whole of the station they were standing in. "You see, when Earth joined the Intergalactic Plumbers, our team was set up as an experiment in Cultural Sensitivity. It was soft and gentle work. But ever since I became aware of the Coming Storm, I repurposed my Rooters to combat the threat."

"What is this Coming Storm you keep talking about." Devlin cut him off -a little rudely, but he was teenager, what did he expect. "Kevin said 'he has a name'. Is the Coming Storm a person? Who is he? What does he want? Why's he so bad? How can he have been a serious threat all these years and no one else has ever heard of him?"

"Oh, people have heard of him." Swift smiled at some inside joke Devlin wasn't privy to. "The Coming Storm is known by many titles."

"Swift, please." Servantis silence her with a look before turning his attention back to Devlin. "All very excellent questions, young Levin. Allow me to start at the beginning. Thirty-two years ago the one I call the Coming Storm was just an ordinary, mundane, and harmless child. A boy like any other really. Nothing special about him. That is, until he found one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. Imagine that, Devlin, one of the most powerful weapons in existence in the hands of an immature and thoughtless child. What do you think happened?"

Devlin's impulse answer was that the kid accidentally killed himself. But he knew that couldn't be the right answer because it was now thirty-plus years later and the Coming Storm was still around causing trouble. So, what else did small children do with unknown and powerful alien technology? "He used it as a toy."

"Excellent reasoning skills. That is exactly what happened." Servantis nodded. "One of the most powerful weapons in the universe in the hands of a child became nothing more than an uncommonly dangerous play thing. He used it to beat up aliens, trapped other children his own age here in the Null Void, even re-wrote the DNA of an entire alien race! Such an abuse of power is unethical. It can't continue unchecked. That's what the Rooters are for. To stop him. Or if we can't stop him, than kill him. Would you like to join my team?"

Devlin didn't think he could kill someone. Not even an amoral, megalomaniac with stinted maturity and underdeveloped objective reasoning skills. But everything up to killing the Coming Storm, stopping him, taking his weapon away, locking him up so he could't hurt anyone anymore. That he could do. And, it meant he could be a Plumber sooner -now- without having to worry about going through the Academy. Without having to worry about flunking his classes or failing a psychological exam. Or just denied because of who his father was. "Yeah. Uh. _Yes._ Sir, I'd be honored to join your Rooters."

It was then that a fourth Rooter entered. Also old like the others and wearing the same Proto-tech armor. He had a scar over one eye and his long gray hair was pulled back in barbarian ponytail. And he had another boy with him, a couple years older than Devlin. The Osmosian recognized him instantly. He was another cadet from the Academy.

"Billings!" He snarled.

"Fake-Tennyson!" The other boy snarled back.

"What are you doing here!?" Both demanded in perfect unison.

"Ah, I see you've already met." Servantis observed. "Good, that will make introductions short. Devlin, this is the other reason I needed you -someone with your ability. The ability to absorb the powers or traits of others… and to pass them into another. Young Dylan here is also joining our team and is going to need some powers of his own if he's to fight the Coming Storm."

"You want me to combine humans with aliens?" Devlin asked, skeptical.

"Think of yourself as a space age Doctor Moreau, and this is your island." Servantis suggested.

"You must be crazy if you think I'm gonna be on any team that includes Baby-11,000 over here!" Dylan snarled at Servantis, jabbing a finger at Devlin as if he were something nasty not meant to be seen in polite society.

"Dylan Billings is an irresponsible, undisciplined pissant with the critical thinking skills of a toothbrush!" Devlin snarled back, also speaking to Servantis. "There's no way you can think he has the mental maturity to fight your Coming Storm!"

"Devlin 'Fake-Tennyson' Levin is an over-controlling, micro-managing, momma's boy with an inferiority complex the size of Jupiter!" Dylan shot back, still talking to Servantis, not Devlin. "There's no way he has the emotional stability to fight your great and terrible enemy!"

There was a break in which the boys had to pause to think up new insults for each other. They stood, glaring at one another, like they were about to attack. They wouldn't of course, not right in front of a possible new employer. At least, Servantis was pretty sure they weren't about to attack each other. They were both high marked cadets at the Weekend Academy. That meant they had to have at least basic impulse control and be moderately responsible. Then again, Dylan was Phil's family and Phil wasn't exactly known for his patience and Devlin was Kevin's son and Kevin was… well, _Kevin_.

Skipping past the obligatory fight and clash of teenaged male egos, Servantis decided it was best to just move along to the abrupt and involuntary reconciliation.

Red energy crackling like tiny lightning, Servantis sent a blast of psychic power at Devlin. It struck him in the chest, past through him and hit Dylan. Both boys gasped, groaned, and staggered on their feet for a few seconds before recovering. Devlin was the first to bounce back.

"What- what the hack was that?"

Dylan had one hand over his chest where the psychic energy had struck him and the other to his head. "What did you do to me?"

"Merely established a psychic link between you and your team leader." Servantis supplied as if this should have been obvious. Like the boys should have expected as much and it was their own fault they were confused.

The boys exchanged a look. "Which of us is the leader?"

Servantis didn't answer. He just smiled a self-satisfied smile with hints of malice and sadistic glee. It was unnerving, but also, ever so slightly exciting. "Lets get started. We have a lot to do before I can send you on your first mission."

…


	7. Team Building

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Roots

Chapter Seven: Team Building

There was a pair of ladies shoes on the floor next to the couch. Not the type of shoes one would want to wear on a farm. Kai must have spent the night again Ally decided. Sure enough, her father's girlfriend was in the kitchen when she walked in to get her morning slice of toast before she rushed off to school. Wearing one of Alan's flannel shirts, a pair of socks, and nothing else.

Ally wasn't really sure how she felt about Kenny's mom dating her dad. It had been going on for a couple month now. Alan had a toothbrush at her house in Arizona and she had a drawer in the bathroom here. Was that normal for a two month relationship, or were they moving fast? Ally didn't know. She'd never had a boyfriend before and adult relationships were supposed to be different than teenage ones. Was Kenny right? Were they falling in love? Would they get married? Would she and Kenny become sister and brother?

"Morning, Ally." Kai smiled when she entered the kitchen.

"Morning. I'm just grabbing some toast. Late for school. Ya know." She brushed past Kai, grabbed a slice of bread, and ran back out the kitchen.

She threw her school bag in the passenger seat of the old, beat-up, refurbished, and refurbished, and refurbished red pick-up truck that had become 'her car' and began the twenty minute commute though back country roads to school. Ally was just barely out of site from the farm when she had to slam on the breaks -a bit harder than was good for the old truck.

Two people stood in the road blocking her path. Dressed in matching, odd looking black suits, one she didn't recognize. He looked like a Necrofriggian, with dark blue wings draped over his shoulders and head like a hooded cloak. But his face was more human than alien. A human-Necrofriggian hybrid, maybe? The other, Ally recognized almost instantly. "Devlin! What the kriff!?"

She got out of the truck and stomped over to them.

"I'm late for school! What do you think you're doing?" She demanded. "What are you even doing here? You should be in Bellwood right now."

"Jeez, Albright, don't blow your top." Said the Necrofriggian hybrid with a slight scoff, crossing his arms over his chest.

Ally recognized that voice. But he wasn't supposed to be an alien hybrid, he was supposed to be a normal human, and he and Devlin were supposed to hate each other. "Billings? What the kriff happened to you?"

"I got powerful." He raised one dark, clawed hand and formed a snowflake in his palm. Billings turned and blew his snowflake onto the weeds growing by the roadside. They froze instantly, and hen he prodded them experimentally, they shattered. "Pretty impressive, huh."

"Thanks to me." Devlin reminded him with a sideways smirk. The Osmosian turned his attention back to the Pyronite girl. "Anyway, Billings and I are here to make you an offer, Ally. Join our team. Accept the offer Servantis made you and come with us. Become a Plumber early. We're gonna save the universe!" Then just to sweeten the deal. "Imagine how jealous Kenny will be."

"You accepted the Proctor's offer?" She blinked at him.

"I did." Devlin held out a hand to her. "Come with us."

Dylan pulled out a Null Void projector and opened a portal back to base.

Ally looked at the open portal, showing what was unmistakably the Null Void. They were asking her to jump into the Void. She looked at Devlin's outstretched hand. Devlin whom she had know for almost as long as she could remember. Her, Devlin, and Kenny. Inseparable childhood friends. Where was Kenny in all of this? Servantis never did offer him a job and Devlin said he would be jealous. Was Devlin not with Kenny anymore? She always thought they were joined at the hip. If it wasn't for the fact that they were cousins, she would have believed they were gay for each other.

Devlin said they were gonna save the universe. That Kenny would be jealous.

Tired of waiting, Devlin took Ally's hand in his. A current of red energy passed between them -like tiny red lighting. "C'mon, Ally. You belong on my team."

…

Kevin wasn't exactly sure what to expect when he arrived at Alan's farm that Tuesday morning.

He was obviously doing well for himself, being an Agricultural Commissioner, whatever that was (Kevin didn't know). The farmhouse was much bigger and much nicer than the last time Kevin saw it. Where once a two bedroom shack had stood, was now a neat and conservative plantation-style house. With a wide front porch, lattice work railing, a wicker rocking chair and coffee table. Kevin was pretty sure the inside was gonna be just as nice as the outside.

What he wasn't sure of was how Alan would react to seeing him on his doorstep. They hadn't exactly gotten the chance to talk at the Pardon Ceremony -what with the attack and all. Helen and Manny had forgiven him and let bygones be bygones. Water near a bridge. What was a little attempted murder between friends anyway? But Alan had always been just a little bit more… _hot-headed_ than the others. No pun intended.

But this was bigger than Alan and him and whatever grievances existed between them. With that thought in his mind, Kevin lifted the utilitarian brass knocker and knocked three times.

The door was opened by a woman wearing a man's plaid flannel shirt, socks and nothing else. Kevin recognized her as Ben's ex-wife -Kai, right?

"Did you forget someth- You're not Ally!" Her eyes went wide in the same expression she gave him at the Pardon Ceremony. "You're Kevin! What are you doing here?"

"I need to see Alan. Where is he." Kevin got right down to business.

"He's in his office." Kai supplied after a pause. "Let me put some pants and shoes on."

She slammed the door in his face, leaving Kevin standing on the porch. Of course she wasn't about to let the infamous Kevin 11,000 into Alan's home where his daughter lived. He understood that. But did she really have to shut the door practically on his nose?

A couple minutes later, Kai emerged again, still wearing the same men's shirt she answered the door in, but she had thrown on a pair of faded blue jeans and some work boots. She was also carrying a sword in a scabbard thrown over one shoulder. Apparently, she didn't trust Kevin 11,000 and felt the need to be armed around him. Kevin didn't know if he should feel instead that she didn't trust him, or flattered that she perceived him as a viable threat. She was a rather difficult woman to read, this Kai. No wonder Tennyson failed at his marriage to her.

Alan's 'office' was in the hayloft of the barn -which had been converted into a totally sweet mancave, which under any other circumstances would have made Kevin wicked jealous.

Without looking up from whatever documents he was looking at on the datapad on his desk, Alan asked, "You need something, Baby? Ally got off to school okay, right?"

"We need to talk." Kevin said.

Alan's head snapped up, startled. "Kevin! What are you doing here?"

"He just showed up." Kai explained.

Jumping down from his hayloft-office, Alan glared at the Osmosian. "The last time I saw you, you left me floating half-dead in a space station."

"Actually, the last time I saw you, I was beating up a Terroranchula while you sat and watched because you were to concerned with singeing your suit to trouble yourself." Kevin reminded him.

"He has a point." Kai added. She did invite him to join the fight, but he refused.

"Get off my property." Alan deadpanned, not amused.

Kevin heaved an exasperated sigh. It was a little disappointing that Alan hadn't forgiven him like Manny and Helen had. But then again, the distrust and resentment was well earned. Kevin couldn't exactly fault the man for not wanting him around. But he didn't come here to be buddy-buddy. He came here with a purpose. "Okay. I'll leave. But _first_ , there's something I gotta give you."

Extending his hand, thin red energy, like tiny lightning, crackled between Kevin's fingers.

Alan jumped back, startled. "Oh no! There's no way I'm letting you drain me a _third_ time!"

The mood in the barn changed instantly, from awkward social call to hostile standoff. Kai drew her sword, shifting her position to stand by Alan -whom was now in his Pyronite form. Molten flesh wreathed in flame. The bits of his clothing that weren't instantly incinerated fell burning to the ground.

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" Kevin held his hands up in a placating gesture. "I didn't come here looking for a fight."

"Well that's exactly what you're gonna get if you don't leave." Alan assured him. "I've learned the hard way that its better to shoot first and ask questions later with you."

To illustrate this, Alan shot a bolt of flame at the Osmosian. It caught him in the chest, burning a large round hole in his jacket and shirt, and sent him flying backwards. Kevin flew through the open barn doors and back out into the late spring sunlight. He pushed himself back to his feet, groaning in mingled pain and irritation.

Kai came up on him and he would have been impressed by how quickly she could move if he weren't preoccupied with dodging her sword. Kevin ducked out of the way of her first horizontal slash and sidestepped the second vertical one. The blade stuck impotently in the ground and Kevin took the opportunity to touch a hand to the immobilized blade, absorbing the metal of it.

"Thanks for the armor."

Now with something protecting him, Kevin could get in closer to Alan without the fear of getting horrible, debilitating, third degree burns. Hand once again crackling with that same red energy, the Osmosian jumped at the Pyronite. Alan tried to dodge, of course. So, instead of Kevin's whole palm colliding with his burning face, just one finger managed to brush against his forehead. But one touch was all Kevin needed.

Alan jerked and staggered backwards, the flames fading from his body. He stood naked just outside the barn for a moment.

"What did you do to him!?" Kai demanded.

"Gave back something that was taken from him."

…

 _The door slid open. Slid. Not swung like what he was used to. With a soft hiss of hydraulics. Alan stepped into a room with four other children._

 _Or, at least, he assumed they were children. They certainly weren't children like him. A boy sitting in the corner covered in course looking light brown fur and sharp looking quills. Another boy with red skin, four eyes and four arms was making popcorn. A girl appeared at his side suddenly. She had blue skin and a tail. The blue girl tapped him in the shoulder._

 _"You're it!" And then she was gone again. Not disappeared or teleported. Just moved so fast it seemed like she disappeared._

 _"Don't bother." Said the red four-armed boy. "You'll never catch her."_

 _Alan stood, not sure what to do. He was so different from the rest of these kids. How did that Servantis guy think he would fit in? The only one that looked even passably normal was the skinny little white boy sitting in a beanbag chair in front of the TV. He turned his head when Alan entered and cast him an appraising look. Dark eyes deceptively casual, but his stare was critical. Like a predator sizing up another predator._

 _"Hey." He said after a pause. As if, whatever he found, he approved of._

 _"Hey." Alan echoed, still unsure of what else he should say or do._

 _"Kevin, make sure young Alan here is comfortable." Servantis said and left them to their devices._

 _"Pull up a bag?" Kevin said, indicating the seat next to him._

 _Alan did but he wasn't watching the TV. HIs attention was still preoccupied with everything around him. It was all so new. So foreign to him. "What is this place?"_

 _"Think of it as summer camp." Kevin smirked._

 _But it was mid January when Servantis found Alan and brought him to his Rooters base. And this place -the Null Void- didn't have seasons anyway. This wasn't like any summer camp Alan had ever heard of -not that he was much first hand experience with summer camps. At the very least, he was sure summer camps didn't experiment on aliens or monsters._

 _Alan was strapped to a slab. Next to him was Kevin likewise strapped to a very similar slab, and next to him was an alien. Human shaped, but covered in fire. Servantis was explaining what was about to happen, but Alan wasn't paying attention. All he caught was that this…_ procedure _was going to make him powerful. Alan wanted to be powerful._

 _The machine was turned on. There was a pregnant pause. Then Kevin winced slightly. His eyes pinching shut as his hands balled into fists. Then he relaxed as whatever it was that made Kevin so tense passed into Alan._

 _It was like a fire under his skin. Traveling from where they were connected, down his neck, to his heart, then spreading though his whole body. It was burning him up from the inside out. Tearing him apart. For one brief, fleeting moment, Alan thought he was dying. Then the moment passed and he was himself again. Normal. Small. Weak. Servantis released his restraints and Alan hopped off the slab -disappointed._

 _"It didn't work." Alan lamented._

 _Servantis only smirked. "Try something."_

 _Alan wasn't sure what he meant. But he focused on what it felt like a few seconds ago. The burning, the fire, the pain. This time, it began in his heart instead of his head. But it still traveled all over his body. Before Alan knew it, his whole body was on fire. But the pain was gone. The fire didn't hurt him. It was him. A part of him. "Whoa!"_

 _…_

"What did you do to him!?" Kai demanded.

"Gave back something that was taken from him."

Kai looked skeptical. That was understandable. All the she really knew about Kevin was that her ex-husband used to know him, he was the father of Gwen's son, and sixteen years ago he tore through the galaxy terrorizing entire races and planets, absorbed the abilities of 11,000 different aliens, made it all the way to the Forge of Creation, and nearly killed Ben. So, of course, when he shows up at Alan's door one morning with no explanation, touches him with his creepy Osmosian hands, and then Alan freezes, of course Kai is going to assume the worst.

But right when she looked like she was about to attack Kevin again, Alan gasped. His eyes blinking open. His body once again wreathing itself in flames as he stared at his hands as if he'd never seen them before.

"Are you okay?" Kai rushed to his side, but stopped short, the heat from his flames preventing her from getting to close. "What did he do to you?"

"This…" Alan was still staring at his flame wreathed hands as this was the first time he'd ever transformed before. Then he looked up at Kevin. "You made me like this."

"You remember." Kevin nodded. "Do you remember Servantis?"

There was a pause. "He was the one in charge, he… He's the same guy who was at your Pardon Ceremony!"

Again, Kevin nodded. "He's got my kid. I think he's starting the Amalgam Project over again. You remember what the final goal of that project was?"

Now it was Alan's turn to nod. "Where is he right now?"

"Gwen's with him. She doesn't know, by the way. I haven't told her because I didn't want her to tell him. I sent them to get Helen and Manny." Kevin supplied. "One more thing. If Servantis wants to make a new team, he's gonna need more kids than just mine."

"Ally!" Alan realized with a start. He turned to Kai at his side. "Baby, where's my daughter?"

"She already left for school. Before he showed up." She raised her chin at Kevin, whom she still didn't trust. She had no idea what they were talking about or what was going on. Who was Servantis? What happened before that he was trying again? What the heck was the Amalgam Project? And several other questions along that same vein of thought swirled through her head.

"Servantis got to my kid while he was at school yesterday." Kevin informed them, deadpan.

That was all Alan needed to hear. He didn't wait for the other two, fire shot from his feet, propelling him into the air. He flew over the property, following the road along the same rout Ally usually took to school.

To try and keep up with the air-born Pyronite, Kevin turned and left Kai, sprinting to the vehicle he'd used to get out to the farm in the first place. A motorcycle he'd 'appropriated' from the motor pool at the Plumbers Headquarters in Bellwood. No sooner did Kevin have one leg over the bike than he felt another body jump on the back of the bike after him. Female hands griped his shoulders -because like hell was Kai Green gonna pet her hands anywhere near Kevin 11,000's hips or waist!

"You have the powers of eleven thousand aliens. Can't you fly, or something?" She asked.

Kevin suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. He kicked the engine instead and the bike sped off after Alan. "I don't have those powers _anymore_!"

They caught up with Alan when the road turned and they were just out of sight of the property. He stood next to what looked like an old, but still in working order, red pick-up truck. To all appearances it looked like it was just abandoned on the rode side.

"What's this?" Kevin asked.

"My truck." Alan supplied.

"Ally's truck." Kai corrected. It was important for teenagers to have their own things. "She wouldn't just leave it here and walk away."

Kevin circled the truck, looking for any obviously fresh damage or other signs of a struggle. Aside from being old, it looked fine. He popped the hood and examined the engine. That too, looked fine. Not perfect, but in adequately drivable working order. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like Alan's daughter had just pulled over, got out, and left.

"He's got her." Alan concluded. After what Kevin just told him, what other conclusion could he come to? "Servantis has my baby girl!"

…

Ally gazed in wonder out the wide, panoramic view port of the Rooter's command center. She'd seen pictures of the Null Void before. Of course. All cadets at the Weekend Academy had. But photos and holo-stills didn't quite capture the full scope of the landscape. The swirls of color, more than just red. There was red, cherry, magenta, fuchsia, and violet. All undulating together in a forever sky that went on forever and ever without a horizon. Asteroids and land bodies floated, suspended seemingly by nothing, in the void. It was frittering. But also, kinda… pretty. In a weird, surreal sort of way.

"So, this is the Null Void." She commented.

"Yup." Billings nodded. He sounded quite proud of himself to spite the fact that he had done absolutely nothing of mention since arriving at the Rooter's base the previous day. "Pretty awesome, huh."

Devlin did not comment. He really hadn't formed an opinion of the Void yet. On the one hand, it was hauntingly beautiful, and the Rooter's operations were based out of it, so if he planned to work with them, he had better get used to it. But, on the other hand, the Null Void was where Kevin had spent the good majority of Devlin's life. He couldn't think of the Null Void and not be reminded of his father's absence. When he was growing up and he used to ask why his father didm;t live with them, everyone would always tell Devlin that his father was in the Null Void. No reason given, no implications that he did anything bad. That's just where he was and that was where he was going to stay. In the Null Void.

"I'm glad to see you find your new surroundings agreeable." Servantis came up behind the kids.

"They're only agreeable until you go outside." Swift added at Servantis' side.

"True." He had to admit. "But we can show you that later. Right now, I would like a DNA sample from our lovely Pyronite."

Ally paused, unsure.

"Its okay." Devlin told her. "I gave him some blood and saliva earlier."

With a shrug, Ally agreed. It Devlin who was always so smart and responsible was cool with giving his blood away to someone he'd just met, then it should be fine, right? Servantis took a sample of blood from her arm. A cheek scraping from the inside of her mouth and asked her to transform into her Pyronite form to take a scraping of her molten skin. When it was done, he passed his samples to Swift who took them to the medical bay.

"Now then, there is one other person I need you to collect for me."

…


	8. Past Watch

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Roots

Chapter Eight: Past Watch

Bellwood Elementary let out early in the afternoon. Like most children her age, Herminie 'Minie' Armstrong could not wait to get out. Unfortunately for her, both her parents worked demanding jobs and so -being to young to walk herself home- Minie had to wait on campus for one of her parents, her uncle, or another of their trusted friends to pick her up.

The little Kineceleran-Tetramand shot out the building's doors almost the moment the bell rang. But she tired herself out before she even got to the playground. Her Kineceleran heritage made her quick to react and fast on her feet. But the muscle mass she inherited from her Tetramand side weighed her down, made her tire faster. She could be as lighting quick as her mother, but only in short bursts. Minie didn't have the stamina to maintain her speed.

But that didn't mean she didn't try.

It was one of Minie's favorite activities to pass the time while waiting for her parents to run laps around the play yard. She would zip around part of the sandbox, then pause to catch her breath and stretch her legs, then shoot off again. Another rest. Another sprint. Rest. Sprint. That is, until her pattern was abruptly interrupted when she collided with someone's shins.

"Ow!"

They both went down. Minie with her hands going to her head, him with his hands rubbing his shins.

"I thought these suits were supposed to be invulnerable!"

Minie looked up and instantly recognized the boy she'd just smacked into. "Devy!"

She wrapped her arms around the Osmosian's legs in an enthusiastic hug.

"'Devy'?" The person behind Devlin snorted. He raised one blue-tinted and clawed hand to his face to try and stifle his snickers of laughter.

"What's so funny?" Minie asked, glancing between Devlin's expression of sudden annoyance and the stinger laughing behind him. "Kenneth is 'Kenny' and Alicia is 'Ally'. So Devlin has to be Devy."

It made perfect sense to her.

He just continued to laugh. "Devlin Eli 'Fake-Tennyson' Levin, son of Kevin 11,000… _Devy._ " He lifted a set of blue moth wings and was hugging his sides now. "Oh gawd! That's gonna be your new name for, like, _ever_ now! Devy."

"Shut-up, Billings!" Devlin snapped. Then he turned his attention back to Herminie. "Are you ready to go, Speedy?"

"Uh-huh." The little girl nodded. She pushed herself back to a standing position and brushed off her shorts. "I just gotta stop by the office so they can call Uncle Pierce and tell him I'm going home with you. Where's Kenny? Did you make him wait in the car again? Mommy says that's mean. Even if you do leave him with water and crack a window."

"You locked your cousin in your car like a dog in a parking lot? Wow, Fake-Tennyson -I mean, _Devy_. Wow."

"Shut-up, Billings!" It happened once. Once! Kenny was to absorbed in his game to care. So Devlin left the engine running with the air conditioner on while he popped out for five minutes. Five minutes! But when Kenny retold the story, Uncle Ben freaked out and gave him a lecture about leaving pets or people unattended in a hot car. Not that Devlin needed such a lecture. If he had his car when Zed was still around, he never would have left her in a parked car unattended. But unlike a pet, Kenny was perfectly capable of putting his game down a getting out if he needed to. Yet, to spite that, nobody was ever gonna let Devlin live it down.

Minie quickly decided that this new friend of Devlin's was funny. They fought with each other like Kenny fought with Ally. Maybe if she played them off each other like she played Ally and Kenny, one of them would buy her an ice cream. (She always seemed to run faster after eating a lot of sugar.) "I'll go call my uncle and then we can go."

She had barely even taken the first step to the office before Devlin's hand was on her shoulder, halting her in her tracks. "Hang on there, Speedy." He said. "There's no need to bother the office people. You can call Magister Wheels from my car phone. How does that sound?"

Then they would have extra time to load up on precious sugar before taking her home! Minie quickly decided she liked this plan. "Okay!"

Taking Devlin by the hand, they headed away from the office and towards the parking lot. But they never got to Devlin's car. Instead they were intercepted by none other than Devlin's mother.

"Where are you taking Herminie, Devlin?" Gwen asked, panting her fists on her hips. Her tone was easy going and casual, but her stance was firm and authoritative, and she wasn't dressed in the unusual pants suit or office skirt she usually wore to work. Instead, Gwen was wearing the black pants, long sleeved shirt, and hooded scarf she usually only ever wore on missions -or when she was anticipating 'hostile negotiations'.

Devlin looked his mother up and down. "Are we gonna fight or something, Mom?"

Gwen shook her head at a loss. "You didn't come home last night. Kenny says you ditched school today. Now you randomly show up to pick up Herminie. What's going on?"

"You wouldn't understand." Was Devlin's best attempt to reason with her.

Gwen only scoffed at the flimsy excuse. "Please. After all the crap your father put me through over the course of our torrid relationship I think I understand a great deal." After all, -as much as he loved to deny it- Devlin wasn't really all that different from his father. If Gwen could understand Kevin then she would have no problems understanding Kevin's son. Kevin's son who was also her son that she had raised for sixteen years. "You're scared."

"Beg your pardon?" The Osmosian blinked at her.

"You're scared." Gwen repeated. "Kevin's out now and you're afraid that people aren't gonna ignore your connection to him anymore. You're worried that because of your association with _Kevin 11,000_ , you'll get kicked out of the Weekend Academy -or denied enrollment in the _real_ Plumbers Academy at Galvan. Kenny told us about the offer Servantis made you. But, Devlin, you don't need to make shady deals to be a Plumber. Let me take Herminie home and then you and I are gonna have a long talk." Her eyes shifted to Dylan at Devlin's side. "Your new friend can come too."

For a moment it looked like that was it. Like Devlin was going to give in and let his mother take Mine back to Helen and Manny while he drove home to await a reprimand like a kicked puppy. But then his posture changed. Devlin straitened his shoulders and set his feet. His free hand balled into a fist of frustration.

"Its not just Kevin." He growled. "Its you, too!"

"Me?" Gwen blinked. She honestly had not been expecting that. Gwen always thought she and Devlin had a pretty good relationship. She loved him unconditionally. Possibly more than the average mother loved her children because of everything she had to go through to bring him into the world. Yes, he was at that age where children started trying to pull away from their parents and assert their own independence. But Devlin had always been naturally independent to begin with. "What did I do?"

"Ever since Kevin came back, he's been all you ever pay attention to!" Snapped the Osmosian. "You ditch karate practice with me so you can boink him instead, you ignore the illegal and _harmful_ things he's done, and… and I know you two had sex in _my_ car! What is _wrong_ with you!? You're different when he's around and I don't like it! At least when you were banging Cooper you were still a grown up about it! But with Kevin you're acting like one of the vapid girls from my school!"

There was a beat of silence.

Minie looked from Devlin to Gwen in confusion. Devy and his mommy were usually so cool. Minie had never seen them fight before. She was sure they must. After all, all kids fight with their parents. Oh, the fights she had with her daddy about her sugar intake! Those were epic. But she'd never even seen Devy raise his voice to his mommy before.

Gwen and Devlin just continued to glare at each other. Neither knowing what to do or say after a statement like that. It was true, Gwen hand't exactly been her 'normal self' that Devlin was used to her being these past sixteen years. Now that she had her Kevin back, she somehow reverted to the 'normal self' she was shortly after she finished her first bachelors degree and she and Kevin moved in together. But Gwen never really noticed just how different that 'normal her' was from the 'normal her' her son was used to her being.

"As hilarious as this is, watching your family drama…" Devlin's Necrofriggin friend cut in, "…Devy and I have a schedule to keep. So, Mrs. Devlin's Mom, either move out the way, or I will move you."

It was at that moment that Ben appeared with Manny not far behind.

"Oh! Are we just in time for the thinly veiled threats of violence?" Ben asked.

"Don't be ridiculous." Gwen snapped. "Devlin's not going to fight us."

"Where are you taking my little girl, Devlin?" Manny demanded.

Devlin opened his mouth to answer. It was true, he didn't really wanna fight his mother, Uncle Ben and Manny. But at the same time, he was on a mission -a real Plumbers mission given to him by a high ranking Plumber officer- and if he wanted to be a Plumber, he needed to finish the mission. Deliver Herminie Armstrong to Servantis for complete medical evaluation. It wasn't like Servantis was gonna hurt her or anything. He probably just wanted to run a DNA panel on her like he did with Devlin and Ally. How could he explain that to Mom and Manny while still maintaining the Rooters covert status.

Either way it didn't matter. Billings beat him to it. "The kid's one of us. So she's coming with us."

That was the very wrong thing to say. Especially right in front of Minie's father. Manny looked like he was about to kill something. No one was gonna take his baby girl away! Not after everything he and Helen went through to make her in the first place. She was their little miracle girl and he was not about to let Devlin and some snot-nosed ice-moth he'd never seen before take her from him!

Manny lunged at Billings. Throwing all of his Tetramand bulk at the smaller and lighter Necrofriggin boy. Billings spread his wings and took to the air to avoid being splattered by the larger and stronger alien hybrid. That was the catalyst that caused everything else to explode. There was no way to keep this from escalating into a fight. The fight had already begun.

Ben slammed his hand down on the Omnitrix and transformed into Feedback.

Gwen enveloped her son in restraints of pure mana. Holding Devlin long enough for her to demand. "What is going on with you?"

"I'm on a Plumbers mission." Devlin said. Because it was true. He was given a mission from a Proctor ranked Plumber who answered directly to the Magistrata. When a Plumber with that kind of rank and pull gave you a mission, you took it, and you completed it. So, Devlin was going to bring Herminie back to Servantis and he wasn't going to let his mommy stop him.

Devlin absorbed the mana that was holding him. The foreign energy forcing his body to transform.

Gwen lowered her mana restraints and released Devlin the moment she realized he was just absorbing her power. That was something she never would have expected he'd do. In the past, Devlin had always tried to avoid using his Osmosian abilities as much as possible. Had this Proctor Servantis really gotten him to change that? Or was it Kevin's influence that made Devlin more comfortable and free with the use of his powers?

To spite his change in form. Larger, with extra limbs and appendages. For once, Devlin's clothes stayed on. The all black battle suit he was wearing expanded to accommodate his greater size, the fabric shifting to allow his extra arms, wings, and tail freedom of movement without needing to rip holes through everything. Proto-tech armor. These Rooters must be well funded, to just give equipment like that away to children.

Devlin shot a burst of mana back at his mother. Just a warning shot. He didn't want to actually harm her. He just wanted to show her that he was serious and to back off.

Gwen threw up a shield that went completely unused as Feedback jumped in front of her and absorbed Devlin's attack instead. He used the energy to power-up a punch aimed at Devlin's mid-section. But Ben forgot that Gwen had been teaching her son hand-to-hand combat since he was eleven and the Osmosian blocked the blow easily, bedding his knees bringing his arm around to shield his body. The punch impotently skidded across his elbow.

But now Ben was in close enough for Devlin to get in a few licks of his own. One Vulpimancer claw closed around the wrist Ben tried to punch him with, while his Petrosapien hand closed around one of Feedback's head tentacles that was headed in downward stroke for his head. Devlin's second Vulpimancer arm slashed out, raking Feeback across the side.

Ben hissed in more annoyance than pain. He wreathed his whole body in a live electrical charge to shock Devlin into letting him go.

The boy hissed. His muscles spasming at the jolt and Ben was able to wrench himself out of his nephew's grasp.

"Switch partners!" Manny shouted to Ben.

He was getting nowhere with the Necrofriggian boy, his earthbound body and considerable muscle and bulk made Manny pretty useless against flyers. But he was good at hand-to-hand which was Devlin's main go-to (even in his mutant form). While Ben could change into anything he wanted depending on what they needed (assuming he could actually find it in a timely manner -ten thousand was a lot to scroll through).

"Switch!" Feedback nodded.

Ben pounded a fist on the Plumber's symbol on his chest and switch forms to Jetray. It was flyer against flyer and tactical muscle tank against tactile muscle tank.

Gwen stood, frozen in an uncharacteristic moment of indecision. She really didn't know what to do. She didn't want to have to fight her son. Not in a real fight. Sparring in the gym was one thing, but this… she could actually hurt him! But she didn't want Devlin to beat up their family or friend either. If Devlin burn Ben or Manny -like really hurt them- she had no idea what she would do.

Not wanting to fight her only child, Gwen focused her attention on the only other possible opponent. The Necrofriggan boy Ben was also mid-air grappling with.

Amidst all the motion and action of the fight, no one noticed Ally sidle up to Herminie.

She knelt next to the Kineceleran-Tetramand girl. "Hey, Minie."

"Hi, Ally." She said. Then looked back at her daddy fighting Devy. "I don't know what's going on."

Ally stretched her lips into an amused smile. "Looks to me like everyone's being silly."

"Very silly." Minie agreed. Daddy, Ben, and Gwen had no reason to be fighting Devy and his new friend. Big kids and grown-ups were weird.

"Ya wanna get outta here?" Ally offered.

"Okay." Minie took the older girl's hand, and while the adults were busy being distracted by the boy's Ally pulled out a Null Void projector and took Minie back to their base.

No one even noticed the small, blue, four-armed girl was gone until Gwen had the Necrofriggan boy pinned to the ground, clamps of mana holding his wings. He groaned in discomfort and snarled to Devlin. "Fake-Tennyson! Did you see if Albright got her or not?"

That made the adults pause. None of them had noticed Alan's daughter appear on the scene. Come to think of it, all three of them seemed to have lost track of Heminie as well.

Devlin blasted Manny with his Pyronite arm, forcing the other man back enough to get some comfortable distance. "Yeah." He nodded. "She got her a couple minutes ago."

"Then how about you come over here and get me the kriff outta your mom's glowy pink bondage rope!"

The Osmosian was quick to comply. It wasn't like they had much of a reason to hand around anyway. Not now that the objective was completed. Tapping into his own Kineceleran speed, Devlin vanished from in front of Manny and reappeared at Dylan's side in moments, one arm reaching down to absorb the mana holding the other boy down. "Although, I do kinda enjoy seeing you like this, Billings. All tied up and vulnerable."

"Shut-up, Fake-Tennyson!" He snapped.

The moment he was free, Billings pulled out his own Null Void projector and before any of the adults could stop them, the boys were gone.

…

"Did you message Pierce?" Kevin asked as he pulled his 'appropriated' motorcycle into the Plumbers Headquarters motor pool.

"I texted him to meet us here." Alan confirmed.

The motorcycle was parked right where Kevin took it from and the key returned. The guard glared resentfully at Kevin as he held an icepack to his head. He did not say a word but it was clear from his expression alone that -if it weren't for the fact that it was already proven that the Osmosian could kick his arse- he wanted to beat the crap out of the former terrorist.

"See? I told you I'd bring it back." He smiled at the man, completely ignoring his murderous glare. "And its not even busted-up or destroyed either."

The motor pool attendant did not look the least bit impressed. Kevin shrugged and he and Alan made their way upstairs to the Null Void chamber.

Max was already there waiting for them with Kenny. The younger boy ran up to them the moment they entered the room.

"Is Ally with you?" He asked. "Where is she?"

They were about to answer. Alan had his mouth half open in the beginnings of an angry snarl about his daughter being missing, when he was suddenly distracted by a blur of blue motion and speed coming up and punching Kevin in the face. The Osmosian fell backwards, flat on his ass, and stared up at a very, very, _very_ , angry Helen.

"Where's my daughter!?" She demanded from the Osmosian who now found himself on the chamber floor. "Manny said your kid and some Necrofriggan boy they'd never seen before showed up at her school and took her. I wanna know what he did with my baby and I wanna know right now!"

"Wait, Devlin took Minie?" Alan asked. His gaze turned from the livid looking Kineceleran to the dazed Osmosian on the floor. "Could he have been the one to take Ally, too?"

"Ally's also gone?" Helen blinked.

With a grim nod to Helen, Alan offered Kevin a hand up off the floor. "Could Devlin be taking our kids to keep them away from Servantis?"

"What's a servantis?" Helen demanded. "What's it got to do with my baby?"

"Right." Kevin cleared his throat and extended a hand towards Helen. Tiny sparks of red lightning crackled between his fingers. "Its easier if I show you, rather than try and explain it. The following flashback has not been rated."

…

 _Helen was running. Usually she loved to run. She tried out for the track and field team once, but her father wouldn't let her join. He said track wasn't a girl's sport. She should have tried something better suited to her sex -like cheerleading. That was one of his more sober moments. When he wasn't so bad. When he was just insulting. Not hurtful. Helen didn't compete. But she still ran. She was running now._

 _One hand closed around her brother's wrist, dragging him along as he couldn't quite keep up. They were running away. Their father was mean and insulting when he was sober, but violent and hurtful when he was drunk. Helen and Pierce both had the bruises to prove it._

 _But their father was friends with so many of the local cops, they couldn't go to them for help. Grown-ups couldn't be trusted and there was no one else to turn to, so Helen packed a bag for herself and a second one for her brother. They waited for their father to pass out, and when he was finally asleep -snoring loudly with the bottle of Jack still resting in the crook of his elbow- they snuck out and ran._

 _Helen did not stop running until she no longer recognized where they were. Then, and only then, did she stop for breath. Letting go of Pierce's hand so that he could finally collapse like she knew he wanted to._

 _They took shelter that night under an overpass and when the sun came up, they started running again._

 _They always kept moving. Never staying in the same place for longer than a night. Then a couple of days. Then a week. Eventually, they just started looking for somewhere where the cops or social services wouldn't bother them to much._

 _That was when they met him._

 _He said his name was Servantis and he was looking for talented children to give extraordinary gifts to. He wanted to build a team of such talented and gifted children._

 _At first they didn't believe him. No grown-up could be trusted. They all wanted something from them. They were all working some angle._

 _But they were so sick and tired of moving all the time. Running from place to place. Hiding from the authorities. Living in terror that tomorrow would be the day the police or social services finally catch up with them and send them back to their father. Servantis offered them permanent shelter from that terrible fate. Permanent shelter, and food. Regular meals of real food. They wouldn't have to scavenge other people's garbage, or beg for hand-outs. They would get three square meals a day, real beds to sleep in with clean sheets, clean new clothes, and medical care._

 _After watching him for several days, attempting to recruit other street kids in the neighborhood, Helen and Pierce approached him together. Their hands joined, if Servantis took one of them he would have to take both of them. They refused to be separated. They took him up on his offer._

 _They weren't the first kids Servantis had recruited._

 _When he took them to his base -which was floating in another world!- there were already two other kids there. Both boys. One tall, thick build, and muscular, but not entirely human. He had bright red skin four yellow eyes and four arms. Helen shrieked and smacked him the first time she saw him thinking he was a monster. She regretted it the moment her palm connected, however. Remembering her father and thinking the four-armed boy might hit her back. She shrunk away in fear._

 _But he didn't retaliate. In fact, he also shrunk away. Like a puppy that had been kicked to many times and she wondered if he might also have had an abusive alcoholic father._

 _"I'm sorry." They both said at the same time. Though, Helen couldn't imagine what he was apologizing for. She was the one to hit him, all he'd done was walk into the room and surprise her. But then, she also apologized for things that where other people were at fault. It was something they had in common and Helen decided that she instantly liked this multi-armed, multi-eyed boy. She hoped they could be friends._

 _Their exchange seemed to greatly amuse the other boy._

 _Dark haired, dark eyed, and skinny. He looked Helen and her brother up and down as if sizing up a possible enemy, or maybe a predator sizing up his prey. "You two don't look like much."_

 _"Neither do you,_ flaco _." Helen snapped back. "How about you race me and I'll show you what I can do!"_

 _"You think you're fast?" The boy asked._

 _"Yeah. I am!" Helen snarled back._

 _The boy's dark eyes looked past her to Servantis. They shared a nod and a smirk. "We can make you faster."_

…

Helen staggered backward, one hand going to her head. "What the… Kevin, you- I wasn't-" She looked down at her feet as if she'd never seen them before. "I was completely human once? But…"

"Cliff-notes: Like, a bagillion years ago, that Proctor guy used Kevin to turn you all into human-alien half-breeds and now he's trying to do it again." Kenny explained. He had no idea what Kevin had just shown her, but she looked pretty disoriented.

"I always wondered why I was Kineceleran but Pierce was Quilqupine." She whispered, looking like she might cry. "We… we're fraternal twins…"

It was at that moment that Manny, with Gwen and Ben entered the Null Void chamber, having just returned from Minie's school. In less time than it took to blink an eye, Helen had crossed the room and buried her face in her husband's chest -sobbing.

"Hey, hey…" Manny whispered, stroking her elongated skull for comfort. "Don't worry. We'll get our little girl back. Minie will be just fine. You'll see."

This only just made Helen's sobs worse. It wasn't bad enough that her daughter was just kidnapped by someone she thought was an impeccably trust worthy family friend. But she also found out that she and her brother weren't even what they thought they were. Helen and Pierce lived their lives believing they were natural alien-human hybrids -that their parents were either a human and a Kineceleran, or a human and a Quilcupine, that they were the result of a torrid and ill-fated but ultimately loving relationship. But they weren't. They were created. Like rats in a lab. They were unwanted street kids that no one would miss taken by a mad scientist and made into something else. No longer human, but not quite Kineceleran either.

When Manny's attempts to comfort his wife yielded nothing, the Tetramand looked up at the rest of those gathered. "What's going on?"

"Sorry, man." Kevin closed the distance between them. "You're probably happier not knowing this, but… I need you to understand what we're heading into."

"What are you talking ab- ?" His question was cut off mid-sentence the moment Kevin's hand touched his forehead. A tongue of thin red energy like lightning slicked across Manny's forehead and -much like Alan and Helen had done before him- he went very still.

…

 _His mother was the only one who called him Emmanuel, everyone else called him Manny._

 _It was his mother who pushed him out the window onto their tenement's small and ill-maintained fire escape. "Run. Stay hidden. Be quiet."_

 _Manny never really understood much of what happened or what was going on. Not completely. His mother always did try and shelter him from most of what went on in their neighborhood. All he really knew was that, a while ago, his dad saw one of the big name gang bangers shoot somebody and he told the cops about it. Went to the courthouse and testified and everything._

 _But the gang banger didn't go to jail. Manny didn't know why. No one ever explained it to him. At least not in words he understood. What he did understand was the three big guys crashing through the apartment door, blood red bandanas over their braids, and waving their guns around. Shouting threats and demanding where his father was._

 _Manny's mother grabbed him fast. Scooping him up in her arms and running for the fire escape. She pushed him out the window and told him to climb down into the alley and run. Run like Hell itself was chasing him. Find a safe place to rest and hide. Don't go to the cops, you can't trust cops. Don't go to anyone with a red bandana, or a blue bandana. Red and Blues were also bad. Just stay hidden. Stay safe._

 _She tried to climb out of the window after him but there was the sound of two gun shots, accompanied by two flashes of light. His mother's body slumped over the window sill. Half still in the apartment, half laying over the fire escape. Manny looked up at her wide, lifeless eyes. A bead of still warm blood dripped down onto the dark skin of his cheek. He just stared at her, not quite understanding what just happened. Everything was suddenly so quiet now._

 _Then one of the men in the bandanas stuck his head out the window and saw him._

 _That was when Manny ran._

 _Sprinting down the alley like his mother told him to. Like Hell itself was chasing him._

 _He ran until he ran into another kid._

 _They both fell backwards on their butts. Manny glared at the other boy. Just a few inches shorter than him, but much, much skinnier. Dark haired and dark eyed, but light skinned -pale. What was a white boy doing in this hood? White folk didn't come 'round here. Especially not after dark! Was he a run away? Or an orphan? Oh, gosh! Manny was an orphan now! What was he gonna do!_

 _"Dude! What is your glitch!?" The skinny white boy demanded._

 _But Manny didn't have time to dick around with the cracker kid, because the red bandanas were in the alley now. Chasing after him. They needed to get rid of the last witness._

 _The white boy's eyes focused on the gang bangers behind him, his expression shifting from snotty and entitled brat to alert and focused predator. The kid laid his palm flat against the asphalt of the alley and Manny's eyes went wide as the white boy's skin turned dark and stoney. Suddenly he wasn't pale and pasty, he looked like he was made from the streets. "I got this."_

 _It was quick. The gang bangers didn't know what to do. They'd never fought a rock kid before. Never mind one that fought dirty. In less time than it took Manny to climb back to his feet, the gang bangers were on the ground, either groaning, unconscious, or not quite breathing. Manny blinked at the kid as the asphalt melted from his skin, reverting back to pasty white boy. His mouth hung open in awe. "I want that power. I wanna be strong."_

 _"You can't have this power." The kid told him. "But I can make you strong."_

 _Manny wanted to be strong._

…

Manny staggered backwards. Helen placed a hand on the small of his back to steady him. "Its okay, honey, I know its jarring. But…" Her voice cracked as she trailed off. "We're not what we thought we were."

"I…" He began, realized he didn't know how to finish that sentence and closed his mouth.

Helen just held him. It wasn't bad enough that their daughter was just kidnapped today. That they were betrayed by a family friend they thought they could trust. But on top of it all, they had to find out that everything they thought they knew about themselves was a lie. A false memory implanted to hide their dark and sordid pasts. Helen sobbed into Manny's chest while he held her, his breath shuddering against the side of her elongated skull.

It was all the others could do to give them their space. Kevin, Alan, Max, Ben, Gwen and Kenny crossed their arms over their chest, or balled their hands into fists at their sides. They tried to look anywhere but at the distraught couple.

That was how Pierce found everyone when he walked in.

"Hi, guys." He began awkwardly, looking around at his sobbing sister holding her husband and the uncomfortable looking others keeping their distance. "I, uh, got this text from Alan. ' _Helpers emergency! Meet Plumb HQ, NV chamber. (Kev not bad guy)'_. That last part was in parenthesis, by the way. So… what's going on…?"

Kevin stepped forward. "And here we go again…"

...


	9. Into the Void

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Roots

Chapter Nine: Into the Void

"Ew. I've got bits of Argit in me." Pierce shuddered.

Helen offered her brother a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"Alright, now that we're all up to speed…" Kevin took charge of the group. He walked over to the Null Void controls and started punching in coordinates, programing their point of arrival when they zapped themselves into the Null Void. "Anyone who has to pee, go now because we're not gonna have time to stop. Tennyson, you stay here."

"What!?" Ben looked insulted. Not surprised that Kevin wanted to take care of this himself without his backup, but legitimately offended that Kevin was specifically singling him out to exclude from this mission. He was the Hero of the Universe, after all, and this was most definitely a Hero Time. "No! That's my nephew Servantis is using. Like heck am I just gonna wait here!"

"And it is _my son_!" Kevin snarled back. "My son. Mine. And Devlin isn't your nephew, he's your second cousin -don't forget that! What's more, you don't know Servantis. I do. He's sneaky, he's manipulative, he has no problem using kids to do his dirty work, he's got an almost fanatical obsession with seeing his 'Coming Storm' _dead_ , and- …one other thing." Kevin finished lamely. "So, yeah, you're staying here. So's Gwen."

"I am?" She looked at him, her expression communicating that he better have one hell of a good reason for making her stay behind on a mission to reclaim her son.

There was a beat of silence in which Kevin and Gwen just stared at each other. The tension in the room was palpable.

Then, "Baby, can I talk to you for a sec?"

She grabbed her lover by the hair -"Ow! Ow! Babe, that hurts! Ow!"- and dragged him out of the Null Void chamber and into the hall. Gwen glanced at everyone watching them with prying, expectant eyes, and shut the door in their faces. This was a private conversation.

"What's going on?" She demanded.

Kevin sighed, avoiding eye contact. He didn't know what to say exactly or where to start. "I, uh… I haven't told you everything."

" _Gasp!_ You haven't? I had no idea!" She scoffed, hands on her hips, glaring up at him from their hight difference. "What's going on, Kevin? I want to know the truth and I want to right now. Or else you're not going into the Null Void after Devlin. I am. _You_ can stay home and knit while _I_ go on a mad destructive rampage for the sake of my baby."

Heaving a second, heavier sigh Kevin rested his head on her shoulder. "This is hard for me, Babe." He confessed. "Just yesterday I learned that I'm not who I thought I was -or even _what_ I thought I was. That my whole life has been a lie. Nothing but a cover story for a mission I didn't even know I was on. Everything. How I escaped the Null Void as a kid, how I learned to barter weapons and repair alien tech… Heck! Even my parents! Devin Levin doesn't exist -never existed. He's not real, and… and… _I named my son after him_!"

Kevin suppressed the urge to sob while Gwen stroked his hair. Even when she was frustrated with him, it was still safe for him to be weak around her.

"Are you saying you're not really half-alien?" She asked. "That you're another artificial hybrid like the others?"

"No." He shook his head, straightening. Kevin wiped his eyes and ran a hand through his long dark hair. "I'm not like them. I wasn't created. I was born. But I'm not half-alien. I'm all Earthling, I'm just not human. I'm a mutant. That's what Osmosians are. We're mutants. We've got something Servantis calls the OSM-1 gene and that's what gives us powers. Its the reason why I can do the things I can do. But Osmosians aren't aliens. There's no such place as Osmos V."

Gwen reached up to stroke his face. Caressing from his left temple down to his chin marked by the X-shaped scar. "Kevin… I already knew that."

"You did?" He blinked at her, disbelieving.

"Well, some of it. When I was pregnant and getting sick… while you were busy panicking and blaming yourself, I tried doing research on Osmosians." She explained. "But all I could find was your arrest and service record, and Aggregor's arrest record. There was no listing of a planet called Osmos V in any system in any database. There wasn't even a record of any Plumber named Devin Levin. I didn't say anything at the time because things were crazy enough as it was." A pause. "But what do you mean it was all a cover for a mission? What mission?"

Here Kevin hesitated. Like really hesitated. He didn't want to tell Gwen any more than he wanted to tell Ben, but at the same time, he also knew (from experience) that he just couldn't lie to Gwen. Somewhere along the line, it had become impossible for him to keep things from her. At least, for very long. He might be able to go several days without her finding out, maybe a solid week, or a short month if he was really determined. But eventually, one way or another, Kevin would break and bear his soul to the woman he loved.

"I was supposed to be a sleeper cell." He confessed. "We all were. Me, Helen, Manny, Pierce, and Alan. Living normal lives -or at least as normal as people like us are capable of. Get close to the target. Work our way into his life. Become part of his normal routine. Until it was time to go to work and finish the mission. Kill the Coming Storm."

She raised an eyebrow. Gwen thought she already knew the answer before Kevin said it, but she asked all the same, "And who _is_ this 'Coming Storm'?"

A beat of silence.

"Your doofus cousin."

A second beat of silence.

She wasn't surprised. What crazy, psychotic, megalomaniac plan didn't revolve around Ben Tennyson? Honestly, some times it felt like the whole universe revolved around Ben Tennyson, his watch, and his stupid fat head. It was maddening. Especially when you were one of the people close to Ben. "That's why you want him to stay behind."

"Part to it." Kevin nodded. "Servantis is crossed with a Cerebrocrustacean. He has the ability to control people's minds. Or at least, influence their perceptions or whatever. He could turn the kids against us. I'm not dumb, Gwen, I know Ben helped you raise Devlin. He's more of a father figure to my son than I am. How do you think he would feel when he wakes up from Servantis' control to realize he just killed the man who raised him. Imagine what that would do to him. I need you to keep Ben here. Can you do that for me? For Devlin. Can you do that?"

With a grim nod, Gwen agreed. "I'll keep Ben here as long as I can. But you know him. Sooner or later he's gonna ignore what people tell him and rush off on his own."

"Then run after him." He reopened the door and they walked back into the Null Void chamber. "Okay. We're ready to go."

"Ben, you and I are staying behind." Gwen announced. "They'll need someone to monitor things from this side and work the Null Void controls."

"Kenny and Grandpa can do that."

"They stay too." Gwen growled.

Kenny seemed to take issue with that.

…

"I'm impressed Agent Levin." Servantis beamed at Devlin and for a moment -jut a moment- he was reminded of a much younger Kevin, energetic, devoted and enthusiastic. "You seem quite committed to our cause."

Devlin stood at parade rest. He wanted to smile at the complement. The Proctor thought he was doing good work. But there was just one small, minute, tiny, insignificant detail that bothered him. "I prefer 'Agent Tennyson'. If its all the same to you, Sir."

The Proctor raised a quizzical eyebrow at that. That was the detail that bothered him? Not the fact that he'd -essentially- kidnapped the daughter of a close family friend. Or that, by doing so, he'd placed himself in almost direct opposition to his uncle, his mother, and almost everyone else he grew up with. Or, perhaps, Devlin was just in denyal about the things he had to do to complete his latest mission. Deflecting his discomfort onto a lesser, mundane and insignificant issue. Either way, the Proctor didn't care. But he did play along.

"Levin is your name, is it not?"

Servantis did his homework prior to recruiting the boy. His privileges as a Proctor ranked operative that answered directly to the Magistrata allowed him access to any database he wanted and Servantis had looked up the boy's records going all the way back to his birth. Devlin Eli _Tennyson_ did not exist prior to enrolling in the Weekend Academy one year ago. Before that he was always Devlin Eli _Levin_.

"It is…" The boy reluctantly admitted. "But I prefer my mother's maiden name. 'Levin' carries to much negativity. 'Tennyson' is a proper Plumbers name."

Suppressing the urge to smirk with ironic amusement, Servantis reminded him. "We're not proper Plumbers."

"Sir?" Devlin asked.

Clearing his throat, the older man explained. "In our quest to cleanse the universe of the Coming Storm we sometimes have to operate outside the standard operating procedures and normal parameters of the Plumbers purview. We bend the rules without breaking them. -In the interest of safeguarding peace and facilitating free exchange between planets and races, of course." He added quickly. "But because of the things we have to do, we are not 'proper' Plumbers."

That made sense, Devlin had to admit. The Rooters operated in the gray area between right and wrong. It was a region of ethics and morality Devlin had always felt uncomfortable with because it was where his father spent most of his life. The gray area of moral ambiguity. But there were shades of gray and Devlin liked to think that he was closer to the light side than his father was.

He might have just kidnapped Herminie Armstrong, but he planned on returning her home to her parents the moment the Proctor was done with his examinations. He never killed anyone. He never absorbed the life-energy or stole the powers of other living beings. He never terrorized other planets or peoples. He never sold or traded in illegal goods… Overall, Devlin viewed himself to be a far less dark shade of gray than his father was. In cases of gray-on-gray morality, it was always better to be closer to the light. If you couldn't be Good, you could at least be 'not as bad as that other guy'. Not as bad as Kevin. Not as bad as the Coming Storm.

Servantis and his Rooters bent rules, skated on regulations, and operated outside Plumbers purview. But they did it in the interest of safeguarding peace and protecting the universe from a worse threat. The Coming Storm. "Can you tell me now who the Coming Storm is? Or at least what his weapon is? You can't expect me to fight something without knowing what I'm going up against. I'm not my Uncle Ben."

Another ironic smirk. "No. You're not."

If the older man was about to say more, he didn't get the chance to. They were interrupted, Servantis abruptly cut off when Phil poked his head out the door to the medical bay and snarled, "Will you two stop dicking around in the hall and come help Swifty with this brat! I've never seen a kid more against getting blood drawn!"

Suddenly concerned for Minie (whom he was still anticipating on returning to her parents once Servantis got what he needed), Devlin pushed past the two older men and rushed into the room to find the place a mess. Swift was in the air, an empty syringe in one hand, an alcohol swab in the other, her eyes darting around the room trying to keep track of a blue blur that kept flitting from corner to corner trying to escape the mean lady with the needle. Minie hated needles.

"Slow down, Speedy!" Devlin called across the room, not quite sure what direction he should be talking to since she was all over the place.

The little girl paused just long enough to turn to Devlin and shout, " _No!_ " Before she was once again flitting about the room, looking for her exit.

Unfortunately for Devlin, he happened to be standing right in front of the exit and Minie barreled into him with all of her Tetramand bulk propelled by all of her Kineceleran speed. It felt like getting hit in the knees by a cannon and he went down. Minie paused again, just long enough to inform Devlin, "I don't wanna get a shot! You can't make me!"

Then she was gone. Lost in the base.

Servantis pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stave off a stress headache. "I'd forgotten how difficult children really are…"

Kevin had never been nearly such a handful. But then again, Servantis reflected, his Kevin was perfect.

"Ally and I can get her." Devlin promised, pushing himself back up on sore legs.

…

The Null Void projector teleported them onto an asteroid just outside of the Rooters base. Kevin looked up at the blood red sky, undulating with shades of crimson, firetruck, brick, and cherry. It felt like it was just yesterday he was in the Null Void -probably because it wasn't yet even a month since he'd been let out. He glanced behind him to make sure just his team made it through and they didn't have any unwanted heroic tag-alongs.

Helen, Pierce, Manny, Alan. Check. No Tennyson, Gwen, Kenny, or Max. Check, check. Good.

Kevin turned his attention back to the Rooters base in front of them. Hovering in empty space, just a bit to far from the asteroid to jump to. There was a thin winding path leading up to the main entrance, but then, they didn't really wanna use the main entrance. That was the best way to get caught and getting caught wouldn't help them get their kids back. So that was out.

"Shame our group hasn't got a flyer." The Osmosian commented out loud.

"T'ch. Speak for yourself." Alan scoffed. He transformed into his Pyronite form, shot fire from his feet and propelled himself like a rocket across the expanse that separated their asteroid from the base. He landed on the lower portion of the station, gripping one of the pylons jutting out from the tail-shaft for balance, and waved to them. Alan, at least, got across safely.

"I wonder what his plan was if he over shot the base and fell in the void…" Pierce wondered aloud.

Had he been in a better mood, Kevin might have laughed at the mental image of his comrade flailing madly while he struggled to fly back up to the target he missed. But with Devlin still inside said base with Servantis, the Osmosian found that humor had left him completely. "That's all well and good for Albright, but how are the rest of us gonna get across?"

As if in answer to this question, Helen began running laps around the perimeter of the asteroid. Building up speed and momentum. On her last pass, she scooped up her brother (Pierce being the lightest of the three men left) and shot off, jumping towards the Rooters base. Using the momentum she built up to just barely make it across. Alan caught her by the hand to help steady her and Pierce so that neither would fall into the void. The three of them waved back at Kevin and Manny, the only two left back on the asteroid.

"You ever feel inadequate sometimes being nothing more than the 'Strong Man' of the group?" Manny asked idly, at a loss for ideas on how to get the two of them across.

"My inadequacy issues have nothing to do with being the muscle of the group." Kevin shook his head. He knelt down, placing his palm flat to the ground, he absorbed a bit of the asteroid, just enough to gauge the type of rock it was made of. Nodded, as if with confirmation or satisfaction, then released the matter. She stood and walked to a different part of the asteroid and repeated the same action, where the ground was a slightly different color. Slightly reddish brown from a random iron deposit. When Kevin absorbed this patch of matter, his body turned to metal.

"Hey, so, you've got the powers of eleven thousand aliens, right? Can't you, like, fly or something?"

Shaking his head with annoyance, Kevin stabbed his metal hand into the center of the asteroid, creating a long fissure in the surface. "You are the second person to ask that. No! I don't have those powers anymore. I lost them when Tennyson beat me and threw me back in here." He stabbed his hand in the ground again, lengthening the fissure, adding stress to the crack until the asteroid they were on broke in two, with them on the smaller piece. "Now come here and help me push."

"Huh? Oh!"

It was then that Manny noticed that by breaking the asteroid in two, they could push the smaller piece off the larger half and propel themselves towards the Rooters base. There was nothing about being the 'Strong Man' that made a person inadequate. It was how they chose to use or not use their strength that made a 'Strong Man' inadequate. Manny sat next to Kevin on the edge of their fragment of the asteroid. Both men propped their feet up on the opposite half and pushed as had as they could. Their fragment went drifting at a lea surly pace towards the Rooters base…

…And almost passed by it completely. Kevin and Manny had to jump quickly to void floating off into the Void.

Helen grabbed her husband by his belt buckle to steady him and keep him from falling. Kevin, on the other hand, slipped on the smooth paneling and had to drop his iron armor _fast_ and absorb the stronger metal of the station, morph his hand into a climbing axe, and stop his fall before he slid completely down and was (for the fourth time in his life) lost in the Null Void. He climbed back up to join the rest of the Amalgams.

"Great job, Fearless Leader." Alan shook his head. "Lets hope none of your climbing and banging holes in the armor tripped any alarms."

"I'm curious." Helen began. "What would your plan have been if the asteroid _hit_ the base?"

"It didn't. Lets just focus on getting in and getting our kids out." He growled. Kevin knelt down, morphing his climbing axe hands into pry bars which he then used to loosen the armor panel at their feet enough for Manny to lift it out of the way. Pierce bent down to examine the exposed cables and wiring, looking for the alarm system.

"Its actually not all that different from the security we have at the Weekend Academy." He withdrew one of his quills and poked at three different wires. Each one gave a small spark and a sizzle. "All done."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Its that easy to disable the security of the place my son goes every week?"

"Well, if you know what you're doing." Piece shrugged.

"Can we move on with this?" Helen tapped her foot in impatience. " _Your_ baby can take care of himself. My baby is not even ten yet! She only has about half the ability she should have from Manny and me, she's in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by dangerous strangers, and the two people in there with that she should be ablest depend on aren't in their right minds. _So, if you don't mind!_ "

"She has a point." Alan stepped up, balls of flame forming in his hands. The Pyronite blasted the open panel, melting a hole through the wires, cables, and piping that ran between the outer shielding and the inner paneling. He jumped down into the base. "All clear!"

Helen was down the hole even before the words were out of his mouth, her husband not far behind her. Then Pierce jumped down. Kevin went last.

The room they found themselves in appeared to be a storage closet of some kind. There were boxes marked 'Spare Uniforms'. "Ooh! Proto-tech armor!"

Kevin pulled a sleek black suit out of one of the boxes. He held it against himself. It was around his relative size. It was nice of Tennyson to lend him pants and a couple of shirts, but it would be even nicer to wear something that hadn't touched another man's junk before. And the fact that it would offer some protection in the inevitable fight was a plus. Without even a bashful pause, the Osmosian began stripping out of his borrowed clothes.

"Oy! Dude!" Alan, Manny, and Pierce all averted their eyes. Helen seemed unbothered by his stripping.

"What?" Kevin shrugged the shirt over his head and adjusted the armor's shoulder plates. "You guys got a problem with me jacking crap from the jerks that took our kids?"

"No, I think they take issue with you getting naked right in front of them." Helen explained.

"Alan incinerates all his clothes every time he goes alien. How come none of you complain about that?" Asked the Osmosian as he clipped the belt around his waist and selected a pair of gauntlets to slip around his wrists. "Oh! By the way, these are supposed to be virtually indestructible, so they _won't_ incinerate when you go alien."

"I'll take two." Alan changed back into human form and selected a suit in his own size to cover his nakedness.

Shrugging to each other, Helen, Pierce, and Manny gave up and picked out suits of their own. Soon they were all wearing proto-tech armor.

Now better equipped to take on their enemy, they ducked out of the store room. Helen vanished with nothing but a gust of air to announce her leaving. But she wasn't gone long. A second gust and a blur of blue and black and she was back with the group.

"I did a quick check of the station. Servantis and the old Rooters are mostly in the main control room. Devlin and Ally are on opposite ends of the station. They and some other kid I don't know are looking for someone. I haven't found Herminie yet." That last part was said in a voice strained with concern.

"Don't worry, Sweetheart, we'll find her." Manny assured his wife.

"Okay." Kevin nodded. "I'll go for Devlin. Alan, you get your daughter. The rest of you, try and find Helen and Manny's kid without the Rooters discovering we're here."

They split up. Alan went up, Kevin went down, the others took separate directions.

…

Back on Earth, Kenny paced the room with impatience laced by frustration. What the heck was going on with Devlin? Kenny was under the impression that Devlin was going to reject the Proctor's offer. But then Kevin had to show up at their school and mess everything up. If Kevin hadn't attacked Servantis, Kenny was sure Devlin wouldn't have stepped in to defend the old Plumber. He wouldn't have driven off with him and he wouldn't be acting _crazy_ now. Any way that Kenny looked at it, this was all Kevin's fault!

Sure, Devlin wasn't the perfect pillar of perfection he liked to pretend to be. Kenny knew -probably better than even Aunt Gwendolyn did- just how insecure being the son of one of the most terrifying terrorists in the universe made him. How he devoted far to much of his free time to trying to distance himself from Kevin in the eyes of others. How that gave him almost a sort of 'tunnel-vision' at times so that Devlin had trouble focusing on or even noticing other things. Sometimes, Devlin could be just as oblivious and absent minded as Kenny himself was. Not because he wasn't smart, but because he was to smart. That made him arrogant and he would disregard or ignore details or factors that might seem obvious to someone else.

Like taking Speedy for example. In Devlin's mind, he'd probably rationalized it into something innocent and painted himself as anything but the bad guy. He wasn't 'kidnapping' her, he was just 'picking her up from school and taking her to meet his new boss'. Or whatever seemingly innocent angle Devlin might choose to look at it from in that big, broody head of his. He worked up a story to justify his actions to himself and completely forgot, or completely ignored the fact that he was taking a kid without said kid's parents' or guardian's permission. That was kidnapping, plain and simple.

But still Kenny didn't blame Devlin. At least not entirely. Because as terrible as he was acting out -and Kenny had never seen him act out like this before- this was all a result of his weakness and insecurity. Servantis was probably playing off Devlin's fear of being compared to his father and using it to manipulate him. It wasn't Devlin's fault! It was Kevin's! It was all Kevin! Kevin was the problem, not Devlin!

Ben leaned against the wall, tapping his fingers impatiently. He followed Kenny with his eyes as the boy paced the room, possibly with even more impatience than his father felt.

"Gah! I can't stand this!" The younger man wailed, throwing his arms up in frustration. "I should've been the one to go after Dev! I'm the one who's always got his back! Devlin doesn't even _like_ Kevin!"

Gwen exchanged a look with her Grandfather. Kenny did have a strange fixation on protecting his older cousin. It was something that went back all the way back to when they were children and Devlin had just gained a human form for the first time. That was years ago by now, and Devlin was more than capable of dealing with his own bullies and taking care of himself. But Kenny still saw himself as Devlin's personal hero. Max and Gwen began to wonder if it wasn't Ben they should be worrying about as a flight risk, but rather Kenny that would be the one to throw caution to the wind and rush into the Null Void to reclaim his older cousin.

Kenny's eyes flicked to the Null Void controls. He really should have been the one to go after Devlin. Not just because everything was Kevin's fault in the first place and Devlin didn't even like Kevin. But also because protecting Devlin was Kenny's job! Ever since they were kids.

When Devlin finally got a human form and Aunt Gwendolyn allowed him to attend school, Devlin was picked on and bullied. A gawky and uncoordinated kid, still getting used to his own new and unfamiliar body. Wobbly on his feet and shy to talk to people. On top of all that he had the same name as one of the bad guys their parents still had nightmares about… it was actually a wonder the bullying wasn't worse than it was. Kids can be just as merciless and cruel as adults.

But Devlin didn't tell. He was no snitch. He didn't cry to the teachers, Aunt Gwendolyn, or Dad. He was afraid that any grown-up he told would assume it was his fault. Because he was the son of that evil 11,000 guy.

So Kenny took it upon himself to protect his older cousin. He had power. For his tenth birthday, Dad gave him his own version of the Omnitrix. It wasn't as powerful as the original and it didn't have as many aliens. It timed out quicker and almost never gave him the alien he wanted. But that was okay. Because it was enough. It got the job done. Most of the kids who went to Bellwood Elementary and Bellwood Public were human and so didn't stand a chance against any of the aliens Kenny was packing. He beat up the bullies that tormented Devlin the worst and made it clear that to mess with Devlin E. Levin was to mess with _him_!

Since then, Kenny thought of himself as Devlin's personal and private protector. Taking care of Devlin was his job. No one took care of Devlin as well as Kenny did and no one was going to take that job away from him!

"Gah! Forget this!" Kenny launched himself at the Null Void controls.

All three adults jumped after him, but they were just a half second to late. Kenny vanished in a wash of golden light, teleported instantly into the Null Void, to the same coordinates Kevin had programmed in.

"Crap!" Ben slammed his hand down on the same button to follow his son into to Void.

Gwendolyn sighed in exasperation. She knew something like this was going to happen. It was just an inevitability in their family. Still, she was impressed that they almost made it to a full hour before charging in half-cocked without the slightest idea what they were rushing into or even the shadow of a plan.

"Go after them." Max nodded to her. He knew she wanted to. "I'll hold down the fort on this end."

Gwen nodded. She put her hand on the button but didn't press it yet. "The Magistrata couldn't possibly know what Servantis is actually doing. I can't imagine she'd still let him enjoy all his privileges if she did. If you can get in contact with her…"

"I will, Pumpkin." Max nodded.

That was when Gwen pressed the button and teleported herself into the Null Void. To the same coordinates Kevin had programmed in and Ben and Kenny had just teleported themselves to.

She found herself just barely missing the edge of an asteroid that floated not far from the Rooters base and suddenly realized that she was plummeting in a free-fall through the void. Gwen reacted quickly, forming a panel of mana beneath her to stop her fall. She looked down and saw two figures below her. An Aerophibian carrying a Tetramand. They landed on the edge of Gwen's mana platform and Jetrayn turned back into Ben, whom glared at the Tetramand.

"I'm curious, what was your plan if your aunt or I didn't show up to save you?"

"I would have been fine if the stupid fake-Omnitrix gave me Stinkfly like I asked." Kenny grumbled indignantly.

Gwen was the one to spot the opening in the armor of the Rooter's base. In the lower segment of the station just before the anterior segment curved into a sheer drop into the void. She maneuvered her platform of mana to the opening and let Ben and Kenny off. Kenny was about to charge right in, but Ben held him back while Gwen checked to make sure the coast was clear. Extending her senses to detect any near-by mana signatures. There was no one immediately near their entrance. She nodded her head and Ben jumped down first.

"All clear!" The Hero of the Universe conformed once inside.

Kenny was down the hatch after his father in seconds.

"The place looks like your room." Ben joked at his son, noting all the open boxes and scattered clothing littering the floor.

"Yeah, whatever. Lets just find Devlin." The boy was preoccupied.

Gwen joined them in the store room. "Devlin isn't acting like himself." She reminded the boy. "Be carful when we do find him. If he's still under Servantis' control he might attack you."

Kenny looked like he didn't believe her, but he said nothing. Instead he turned from both of them and ran from the store room, sprinting through the halls and corridors of the Rooters base even though he had no idea where he was going. Since he didn't know where he was it didn't matter if he got himself lost. Just so long as he found Devlin. That was all Kenny cared about.

He heard his father running after him, shouting for him to stop and wait. Kenny toggled through his faux-Omnitrix hoping it would actually give him something useful. XLR8, or Ghostfreak, maybe. Someone fast enough to outrun the Hero of the Universe of able to phase-shift through walls. Instead what it gave him was Graymater.

Fine. That was just fine. Since Kenny couldn't outrun his father or ghost through the walls, he did the next best thing. He found an access grill at floor level and pulled a Star Wars. He opened the grill. Unlike in Star Wars it did not lead into a garbage shoot -thank goodness. Instead it provided ventilation for a series of wires, cable and pipes. The hardware that allowed the electronics and software of the station to function. Here Graymater could be useful.

Kenny exited out the next grill vent he saw on the opposite side and came out in a completely different corridor. It would take Dad and Aunt Gwendolyn some time to catch up to him now. Not sure how much time was left before the faux-Omnitrix timed out and returned him to human form, Kenny set to work rigging an interface that would allow him to hack into the base's security feeds.

He was going to find Devlin and he was going to be the one to sort this all out. Devlin was his to protect. _His_! No one else's.

…

"Darn it, Speedy! Its just a blood test!" Devlin snarled to the empty corridor.

He decided to search the aft, anterior section of the station while Ally looked up and Billings took the middle. But the little Kineceleran-Tetramand girl continued to evade him. Kenny was really better at finding her whenever they played Hide-n-Seek than Devlin ever was. Mostly because Devlin thought like a grown-up. Minie was just as fast as her mother, but she still left tracks. She couldn't maintain her speed for nearly as long as Helen Armstrong could, but she could still cover far more distance than Devlin could in his human form. And she was clever, criss-crossing her own trail to leave false tracks. And she was so fast that there was no way to tell which were new and which were old. It was impossible for Devlin to track. Kenny, on the other hand, still thought like a child and so sometimes knew where Minie would be even before she did.

Devlin wished Kenny were with him. He'd never really done anything without his cousin before. At last, not anything that required him to leave the house. He did plenty at home without Kenny. But whenever they went out, to hang out with their (uncommonly small) group of friends, or even just school, or the Weekend Academy they were always together. This was the first time Devlin was actually doing something on his own. Without his cousin. Devlin was hesitant to admit it -even just to himself- but he was not liking the experience. As much as he wanted to be a Plumber, he was slowly deciding that he didn't want it if Kenny wasn't also a Plumber beside him.

Why hadn't Servantis offered Kenny a job anyway?

While still immature, a little naive, and lazy, Kenny was still much more deserving of being offered a chance to become a Plumber early. Being the son of the great hero Ben Tennyson and all. He came from hero stock and was destined to become just as great a hero and savior. Devlin came from villain stock and wasn't fit to share the same air his uncle (technically second-cousin) breathed. Why hadn't Servantis made his offer to Kenny?

Come to think of it, the Proctor had called his father 'Agent Levin' at his school. Kevin used to be a Rooter before Devlin was. But when would he have been? His father was deputized as a Plumber at the age of sixteen when Mom and Uncle Ben uncovered the Highbreed invasion and Mom had been with him ever since. She would have known if he had joined a covert Plumbers team. Even if he didn't actually _tell_ her, she would have noticed. But Mom didn't know anything about the Rooters or Servantis at the Pardon Ceremony. So, when was Kevin a Rooter? Something wasn't adding up here.

And Devlin still didn't know the identity of this Coming Storm he was supposed to help save the universe from.

How could they expect him to fight an enemy if he didn't even know what or who said enemy was?

An idea was forming in Devlin's mind. Still a little indistinct and ephemeral on the edges of his mind, but it made him uneasy and suspicious.

There was something going on with the Rooters that Devlin couldn't quite put his finger. It wasn't any one thing. It was just lots of little things that -by themselves- were mundane and not worth thinking on. Like how Servantis wouldn't just come out and say who the Coming Storm really was. Or how Billings -who hated Devlin-, and Ally -who was just as stubborn and independent as Devlin himself was- were suddenly taking commands from him readily and without question as if he were a seasoned leader and not one of their peers. The Proctor called it a 'psychic link' between them and their team leader. When Servantis hit him and Billings with his power, and when Devlin touched Ally's hand and that same red lightning crackled between them, that was when the 'link' was formed. But Devlin had a sinking suspicion that he was not actually the 'team leader'.

He had no actual evidence of any of this, of course. Just a 'gut feeling', and Devlin knew from experience that his 'gut instincts' weren't all that great. He was rather like his mother that way. Relying on rational thought and evidence rather than his lower digestive track. There was just no rational explanation for why Proctor Servantis would want a bunch of inexperienced teenagers underfoot if he wasn't training them to take over his already existing team's post. There was no evidence to support that something strange was going on, just Devlin's own unease -which could just as easily be explained by doing something without his cousin for the first time in his life.

Reminding himself of those facts, Devlin forced himself to feel better. There was noting suspicious going on with the Rooters. He was just being skeptical and paranoid.

Then he rounded a corner and came face to face with an impatient and annoyed looking Kenny.

The Osmosian froze for a moment, for a second questioning his own eyes. After all, Kenny couldn't possibly be here in the Rooters base. He was back on Earth, at home, in the Plumber's Heaquarters or perhaps at soccer practice. How would Kenny even get into the base? To get him to the Null Void was easy. They both knew how to work the NV Chamber controls. All he would have to do to get into the Void would be to sneak into the Chamber without being noticed and zap himself in. But sneaking into the Rooter's base, that was a feat -and a bit beyond Kenny's skill.

Then his younger cousin punched him in the face and Devlin knew he had to be real because hallucinations didn't have that good of a right hook.

Devlin put a hand to his injured cheek and gaped at the younger boy.

Kenny still looked pissed, and Devlin wondered if he was going to hit him a second time. But Kenny didn't follow up his punch with a second blow. Instead, he pulled his older cousin into a tight hug. As if equal parts relieved and pissed off. The punch was because he was pissed. The hug was because he was relieved to find Devlin so easily.

"What the kriff is wrong with you!?" He snarled into Devlin's ear.

"Nothing's wrong with me." The Osmosian whispered back. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt so much more relaxed than he had in the past two days. Just having Kenny near him, even if the younger boy was mad at him, made Devlin feel so much better. More calm and at ease.

But Kenny pulled away at Devlin's assurance that there was nothing wrong with him. "Bantha fodder!"

"What?" Devlin blinked.

"There is something going on with you." Kenny insisted. "I don't know what it is, but I'm gonna figure it out and I'm gonna stop it. You ran off with some shady Proctor guy, you took Ally, _you kidnapped Speedy_! What the kriff!? You're acting like… well, you're acting like a bad guy! Like Kevin! The the bad Kevin. The one we haven't actually met. We've only just heard stories about. _Kevin 11,000_."

"I'm nothing like him!" Devlin snarled. Now it was his turn to back up from his cousin. If there was one thing that got under Devlin's skin it was comparing him to his father.

Kenny threw his arms up in exasperation. "You're right. Kevin 11,000 never targeted or kidnapped children!"

"I haven't kidnapped anyone!" Devlin shouted back.

"You kidnapped Speedy!" Kenny snarled.

"I'm gonna take her back!" The Osmosian insisted. "Once Servantis gets his DNA panel from her I'm gonna take her home to Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong. She'll be back safe at home before the morning. -If I ever find her. Speedy ran off on us and is hiding somewhere on the base."

Kenny looked relieved at hearing that. Not the first part. Kenny continued to look concerned while Devlin was proclaiming that he did nothing wrong and that it wasn't kidnapping if he returned her to her parents. But the moment Devlin mentioned that Minie ran off and was hiding from the Rooters and that Devlin couldn't find her… that was a relief for Kenny to hear. "Good. I'll find her and take her home." He nodded. "And you'll come with me and apologize to Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong. We'll explain that you can't be held responsible, that Servantis has you under his control or something, so that you don't get in trouble. I'll protect you Dev. But you gotta come back with me now."

Devlin shook his head. "Not until Servantis gets his blood tests."

"To hell with Servantis!" Kenny snarled. "I'm more worried about you! You kidnapped a Plumber's kid!"

"I'm just following orders!"

There was a beat of silence.

"I cannot believe those words just came out of your mouth." Kenny began toggling through his faux-Omnitrix. "You're coming home with me, Dev. Even if I have to beat you unconscious to do it!"

As Kenny toggled through the aliens in his watch, Devlin assumed a fighting stance. "I'd like to see you try."

…


	10. Many Confrontations

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Roots

Chapter Ten: Many Confrontations

Manny wanted to look for his little girl with his wife. But Helen was so much faster than him that she left the Tetramand-hybrid in the metaphorical dust. Inevitably, she ended up searching the station for Minie while he swept the halls for the other kids and other Rooters. Beating up the latter, or reprimanding the former accordingly.

Helen passed him by several times with updates about what people were where and that she had seen evidence of where Minie had been, but hadn't actually found her yet. While she was faster than their daughter, Minie learned to play hide-n-seek from Kenny Tennyson whom was a master at eluding and evading his parents. She never found just one place to bunker down and hide. She found a place. Hid. Then moved. Found a new place. Hid again. Moved again. Hid again. Move. Hide. Move. Hide. That technique, combined with her speed made her near impossible for an adult to find. They had to think like a child.

Neither Helen not Manny had thought like children since they actually were children. Even then, they did not think like most normal, well adjusted children that came from traditional nuclear families. In that one respect they could never fully relate to their daughter.

Not to mention the base was a large station meant to house a much, much larger crew than the Rooters ever were and so there was a lot of ground to cover. Even if Minie hadn't been moving, locating her would have been difficult. Manny had a sinking feeling that the only way they were going to find his baby was by chance if they crossed paths with her movie from one hiding place to another, or if they beat all the existing Rooters and made a station-wide announcement from the control room that it was safe and her parents were here to pick her up.

With that thought in mind, Manny decided the best thing he could do was beat-up as many Rooters as he could find.

That was when he rounded a corner and stopped short. Suddenly finding himself face to face with Swift. One of the original Rooters.

The two froze. Doing nothing more than stare at one another for a few moments.

Swift was the first to react. She shot a beam of energy at him from her tail. The blast caught Manny in the chest and sent him falling backwards on his ass. But she didn't follow up the attack. Instead, she went for the communicator on her wrist. "Proctor, its-"

Manny recovered quickly and jumped on her before she could get out another word. He ripped the communicator off her wrist and crushed it in his hand. They couldn't afford to have the others know they were here yet. Not until after they got their children out safely. Maybe after he knew his daughter was safe Manny might enjoy going a few rounds with whatever Rooter felt like taking on his Tetramand temper and the more than considerable bulk behind it.

Swift struggled to get out of his vice-like hold. Kicking her feet and whipping her tail wildly. Finally, she fixed him with a frustrated glare, her eyes glowing before she shot her energy beams from her eyes directly into Manny's face.

He dropped her instantly and she shot off in the direction of the control room. Without a communicator, she would have to warn Servantis in person. Manny couldn't let that happen. Rubbing his eyes to clear them, he charged off down the corridor after her.

…

Alan did not find Ally.

Instead, his path crossed with a Necrofriggean-human hybrid he'd never seen before. He looked to be around Ally and Devlin's own age and was wearing the same proto-tech armor uniform as the ones Alan and the others had lifted from the store room they came in through. He must be the other kid Helen mentioned. The one that was helping Devlin and Ally search for Minie.

Alan didn't waste time on introductions or pleasantries. He went alien the moment they saw each other, his skin erupting in molten flame.

"You must be Albright's dad." He nodded as if confirming something to himself. "She's two years behind me at the Weekend Academy."

"Is that supposed to mean something?" Alan raised one hairless smoldering brow ridge.

"It means I've got two more years training than she does." The boy spread his wings and flew at the Pyronite.

Alan jumped to dodge the attack. The tip of the boy's icy wing just barely grazed the side of the proto-tech armor with a sizzle and hiss. There was a small wisp of steam. Alan looked at the spot to make sure he wasn't actually injured. The armor blocked the actual blow. The sizzle and steam was just from his heat against the other's cold. They were completely opposing elements after all.

"You might have more training than my daughter." He conceded. "But do you wanna guess how many years of actual experience I've got over _you_?"

…

Helen zipped around the station, desperate to find her daughter. It took her almost all her life to give birth to Herminie, and Helen was not going home until she had her baby girl back safe in her arms again.

The problem was that Minie was hiding and running from the Rooters. That meant that she was never in the same place twice and while Helen was fast, Minie was also fast. The only difference between them was that Minie's Tetramand bulk lowered her stamina and endurance. She was fast, but she could only run fast for so long. Minie would put on a quick burst of speed, find a place to hide, and rest to catch her breath. Then she would repeat the process. Run, hide, run, hide, run, hide.

Helen found plenty of evidence of her hiding places. A pile of empty food ration wrappers under a desk in a disused barracks. Scattered empty water bottled in a maintenance closet. Crumpled, snotty tissues from where she had been crying. Lost and alone, far from home. With Devy and Ally acting weird and Kenny nowhere to be found. She must be feeling so terrified and alone. Helpless and small. Helen had to find her! She had to find her little girl and get her home safely. Then, once her baby was tucked away safely at home, she was gonna come back here and beat the ever loving kriff out of Proctor Servantis and the rest of his Rooters. Might even beat-up Devlin and Ally too -if Gwen and Alan would let her.

Speaking of Ally… was it getting hot down this corridor or was Helen just…

The Kinecelearn skidded to a halt right before she collided with a wall of pure fire.

And standing in front of that wall of fire was none other than Ally Albright herself. In her Pyronite form. Skin like molten lava, body wreathed in living flame. But unlike usual, she wasn't naked. Instead, Ally wore the same black proto-tech armor that Kevin had pulled out of the store room they came in through. So it was true, what Kevin was afraid of. The kids really were under some sort of mind-control by Servantis and had joined his Rooters. Were doing his dirty work so that he could keep his hands clean. Safe and away from the violence.

"Gurl… You have no idea how much trouble you're in!" Helen growled at the younger woman.

"I thought you were Speedy." Ally informed her. "The Proctor wanted to run a DNA panel on her."

"Like hell he will!" Not that a DNA panel in and of itself was bad, just that Helen didn't want a stranger or a villain sticking her baby with needles, or poking her with swabs, to try and figure out how she ticked. That was something Helen only entrusted her family's xeno-pediatrician with. There was no way in heck she was gonna let her baby any where near an examination room run by Proctor Servantis.

She rushed at Ally, barreling into the younger woman like a battering-ram and knocked the Pyronite off her feet. Helen brushed some soot off her otherwise undamaged proto-tech armor. She wanted to reprimand the girl, or deliver a lecture. But she knew both would be a wasted effort. People under mind control didn't listen to parental authority or reprimands. She was Alan's daughter, Alan could deal with her when this was done.

Helen began running circles around the younger woman. Faster and faster. Creating a vortex of air. Sucking the oxygen out of the emendate space around Ally. Her Pyronite flames were extinguished. Then the glow faded from her molten skin. Finally she passed out and Ally reverted back to her base human form.

…

Kevin did not find Devlin.

But he did find Servantis.

In the control room. Standing beneath the large panoramic window that ran the circumference of the chamber, offering a three-hundred and sixty degree view of the Null Void outside. But Servantis wasn't looking at the window, his attention was occupied my the console in front of him. Monitoring the motion sensors and cameras of the base. Probably looking for Helen and Manny's girl, or perhaps just spying on Devlin, Alan's girl, and that other kid.

Whatever Servantis was preoccupied with, Kevin didn't care. The other Rooters weren't around -probably aiding the kids in their search for Herminie Armstrong. Servantis was alone and without backup. Kevin stepped fully into the room, one hand brushing against the doorframe as he did so to absorb the metal, and morphing his hand into a short, curved assassin's blade.

Though the Osmosian hadn't made a sound, Servantis turned around as if he heard something, and smiled. _Smiled_ at the man that wanted to kill him. "Kevin. I was wondering when you'd come. I have missed our little one-on-one talks."

Talks about how terrible Tennyson was, about how unfair the world was, about how a person had to be cold and vicious to get anywhere in life. At the time, Kevin had thought that Servantis was one of the coolest adults around. But after remeeting Tennyson, and more importantly _Gwen_ , in his teens Kevin realized that the view of the world he'd learned from the Proctor was slanted and bias. An incomplete picture. It was perfectly possible for a person to get by in the world, even live happily, without being a ruthless ass-hole. So long as they had the things they cared most about. Friends, wife, son. Things Servantis didn't understand.

"I'm not here to talk." The Osmosian growled.

"No?" That smile morphed from pleased and welcoming to cunning, sly, and ever so slightly ironically cruel. "But aren't you the least bit curious?"

Kevin knew he shouldn't entertain the Proctor. Knew the older man was just trying to distract him. There was nothing Servantis could say that Kevin wanted to hear. But to spite that, the Osmosian found himself asking, "About what?"

Now the smile was triumphant. Servantis thought he'd won something. "Think about it." He said. "Since Devin Levin never existed… Haven't you wondered who your real father is?"

"No." Replied the younger man quickly. Perhaps a touch to quickly. Kevin had been inside Servantis' head. He already knew and he chose not to care. "No. I'd really rather just kill you, grab my kid, and go home."

Seravntis looked so disappointed. Like Kevin had just told him Christmas was canceled. "You'd rather go back to Earth where you'll be doubted and distrusted for the rest of you life. Where you have to live off the charity of the very same man who took you away from your wife and son in the first place. Where every day will be a constant struggle to earn back the trust of the people closest to you. Rather than come back to me?"

The older man shook his head, taking a step closer to the Osmosian. Slowly closing the distance between them.

"Kevin, you were at your greatest, your most _spectacular_ when you were one of my Rooters. Come back to me. Come back to where you belong. Together, you and I can change the world!" He was right in front of the younger man now. He took Kevin's chin in his hand and looked him over, the other hand running over his metal-armored hair. "You look so much like your mother. My perfect Kevin…"

" _Don't touch me!_ " The Osmosian swung upwards with his bladed hand.

The Proctor just barely managed to jump back before the weapon could make fatal contact with his neck or chin. The worst he got was a gash up the cheek. It bled, but it wouldn't be fatal. "I'm disappointed. Devlin is much more devoted, but he hasn't got all your powers. He'll never be as great as you, Kevin. No Osmosian will ever be as perfect as you."

Kevin didn't want to hear it. He didn't give a flying kriff how 'perfect' Servantis thought he was or how much the man wanted him back with the Rooters. He was to young to notice as a child, he didn't know what to look for and wasn't experienced enough to realize he had to look out for anything at all. But now that he was older, Kevin realized Servantis was unhinged. Insane. Completely off his rocker, bat-shite, couple screws short of a chop-shop crazy. Kevin had plenty of experience with crazy.

You can't reason with crazy. You can't talk them down, or logic them out. You just had to neutralize them. Take them down, or take them out so that they weren't a threat anymore.

Following up his slash with a punch, Kevin morphed his other hand into a hammer and swung at the Proctor, aiming for the older man's head.

Servantis threw up a shield of psychic power to block the blow, just as he did on the soccer field the day he took Devlin away. But this time, Kevin was prepared. He angled his blade hand and thrust up under the shield. The knife connected with the sleeve of the Proctor's proto-tech armor, skidded ineffectually up the wrist a bit -creating a few sparks along the way- before Kevin changed tactics.

You can't cut proto-tech armor. It was virtually indestructible. But blunt force attacks could still injure the person inside the suit. The same way a gun shot wouldn't kill a person wearing kevlar, but it would give them one heck of a nasty bruise.

Kevin morphed his knife hand back into a real hand, and grabbed Servantis' wrist. He pulled the older man hard. Spinning him around so that his back was to Keivn, the shield of psychic energy no longer between them. He then brought the hammer down on the Proctor's back, stunning him. Servantis went down. Belly flat on the ground. Kevin stepped on his lower back, holding the older man down where he lay.

"You used me as a child." He said. "Played on my anger and frustration to manipulate me into doing your dirty work for you. If it wasn't for you, maybe Helen, Manny, Alan, and Pierce could have lived normal lives. You messed with my head. You messed with Max's head. You messed with _my mother's_ head! But ya know what? I'm not even mad about that."

He pressed his heel down harder on the small of the Proctor's back until he heard a _crack_. Even if Servantis survived this encounter, he would be paralyzed from the waist down.

"No. The thing I'm mad about… the thing that I _hate_ you for… is Devin. For over half my life I believed my father was a great, selfless, and heroic Plumber! That he sacrificed himself for his partner, the Earth, and _me_. He was something I always aspired to be. The kind of Plumber I tried to be. The kind of man I tried to be. The kind of father I was going to be. _I named my son after him!_ And he _doesn't even exist!_ One tiny little flourish to get Max to look out for your secret agent. _That_ is why I hate you!"

Servantis hollered in pain. His back hurt so much it made listening difficult. He was having trouble feeling his legs and Kevin's foot on the small of his back was torture! Servantis grit his teeth. Unable to roll over and face the younger Osmosian he muttered to the floor. "You named your son after your father? I'm flattered."

With a snarl of rage, Kevin raised his hammer hand to deal a final death blow to the Proctor. "I have no father!"

But the blow never fell.

Both men were distracted when the command chamber door suddenly opened and Swift flew through. "Proctor! Trouble! The Amalgams-"

And Manny was a half-step behind her. "Kevin! We're made!"

Both stopped short upon seeing the Proctor on the ground. Kevin standing over him, poised to deal the final death blow with his hammer. The four of them stared at each other for half a moment. Not quite sure what to do next. How this was going to play out now that both Servantis and Kevin each had back-up in the room.

"So, looks like we've already won then." Manny noticeably relaxed. With their leader down, the other Rooters had no choice but to surrender and give back the children they took. … Right?

Swift didn't say anything. Upon seeing her leader on the ground, she flew at Kevin, eyes glowing and knocked the younger man off the Proctor. Kevin went tumbling to the ground, rolling away from the prostrate Servantis. Swift knelt by her boss' side, helping him turn over on his back.

"Ah, ah! Don't move me!" Servantis groaned, barely managing to be keep his voice under control from the pain. "Spine. L4 and L3 -probably."

"You're paralyzed." Her eyes went wide with concern.

But she didn't get the chance to do much about it. Manny came up behind her while she was distracted. Stepped on her tail to keep her down on the ground and hit her hard on the back of the head to knock her out. The Aerophibian-hybrid went down, unconscious on top of her leader. Servantis heaved a second groan at having her weight heaped on top of him, but at least there was no danger of him being moved and causing further damage to his spine now.

Manny offered Kevin a hand up.

"Where're the others?" Asked the Osmosian.

"Still all over the place." Supplied the Tetramand.

"And the rest of the Rooters?"

"Donno."

The door to the control room slid open again and both men jumped.

Gwen and Ben stood in the doorway.

"The rest of the Rooters are also all over the place." Gwen supplied. "But its the kids that really matter. Kenny came with us, but he ran off after Devlin."

Kevin wasn't listening. He jabbed a finger at Ben. "Baby! You were supposed to keep him away from here!"

"Me?" Ben blinked in confusion.

That was when Helen entered, carrying an unconscious Ally over one shoulder. "What, Ben's here now? Isn't that counterproductive to the plan?"

"What plan?" Asked Ben.

Kevin, Manny, and Helen looked awkward and uncomfortable for a couple moments. But just before any of them could answer, Alan walked in carrying an unconscious Necrofiggian-human hybrid. Dylan Billings.

"This brat thought he could- wait, what's Ben doing here?" He stopped short, tossing Billings ungently on the ground. "You can't be here. The whole point of us doing this was to keep you _away_ from the Rooters."

" _Why?_ " Ben demanded, getting very frustrated and fed up with being treated like a sheltered child. "What is going on here that's so terrible I'm not allowed to know about it!? Since when did you all listen to Kevin anyway? Alan, last I checked, you _hated_ Kevin! _What the kriff is going on!?_ "

It was at that point that Servantis began to laugh. Low and dark in the back of his throat. Seemingly oblivious to his position prostrate on the floor, the Proctor laughed as if he was the victor and not Ben's Team, Kevin, or the Amalgams at all. "I've very glad you asked that, Tennyson."

He might not be able to move thanks to Kevin. Paralyzed from the waist down now -probably permanently. But his mind was undamaged and all he needed to use his powers was his mind. Servantis closed his eyes and thin red lightning crackled from the jewel on his forehead. Tongues of power licked out from his head and arched their way to the gathered group.

"Tennyson, look out!" Kevin pushed Ben out of the way, knocking the other man against a side wall.

But it wasn't Ben the Proctor was aiming at. Two bolts of lightning hit Ally and Billings respectively. It shocked both teens back to consciousness. Billings stood from the floor. Ally struggled out of Helen's grip and morphed into her Pyronite form. Both teens ignored the rest of the adults around them and focused their attention on Ben who looked like a deer suddenly caught in the headlights of an on-coming semi. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that his friends' kids were about to attack him.

And they did!

Billings blew a breath of ice that would have frozen the Hero of the Universe solid if it weren't for the sudden shield of mana Gwen threw up around him. The chilling breath collected on the barrier, forming a wall of ice so brittle it shattered almost the moment it was done forming. If the attack had hit Ben, it most certainly would have killed him. Ally followed up Billing's ineffective ice attack with a fire one of her own. Tossing handfuls of flame the size of softballs at the Hero of the Universe.

"What the kriff is going on!?" Ben demanded again as he scrolled through the aliens in his watch while dodging ice and fire from both children.

"Its mind control." Gwen explained.

While at the exact same time Kevin growled. "This is why I didn't want you along. Jeezus, Tennyson! You never listen!"

He absorbed some mater from the floor to reapply his armor and jumped in to protect Ben. The Osmosian smacked Billings across the face with the back of his metal -which was instantly covered in frost- and the Necrofiggian boy went down. …But got right back up again. Alan likewise jumped in to put himself between Ally and the Hero of the Universe -mostly because he didn't want Kevin actually hurting his little girl. Kevin wasn't exactly known for being gentle with his opponents.

Gwen threw a bubble shield around both teenagers, momentarily trapping them and giving the adults a moment to catch their breath and adjust to their children now being the enemies.

"But why are they attacking _me_!?" Ben demanded.

Billings and Ally flared their powers. Filling Gwen's bubble shield with frost and flame which mingled into steam. Ally's fire vaporizing Billing's ice, turning it to hot steam, the warm air expanding, putting pressure on the bubble that held them. Stress fractures and cracks appeared on Gwen's shield.

"You don't get it do you?" Kevin snarled. "You were the real target here, Tennyson. You're the Coming Storm!"

...

Kenny knew that in the straight up fist fight there was no way he could beat Devlin. While Aunt Gwendolyn had tried to teach him karate right alongside his older cousin, Kenny had never been very diligent or committed. It took to much effort and there were other things he wanted to do more. Sitting on his butt playing video games was much, much easier and took far less effort than waking up early every morning and sweating like a mule before breakfast. So, Kenny knew that he didn't have a chance of beating Devlin in a hand-to-hand fight. At least, not a fair one.

But Kenny did have one advantage that Devlin didn't have. Kenny had the Omnitrix -well, a fake one- and could transform into and use the powers and abilities of a number of aliens. Sure, some of them were aliens that Devlin himself already had running through his system, hidden in his blood, just waiting for the right spike of adrenaline to let them out. But he knew the Osmosian wouldn't let them out. Devlin hated his mutant form and went out of his way to try and avoid using it. -Which was why he was so devoted to his martial arts.

So long as Kenny had his aliens and Devlin was afraid of his own, Kenny would be the victor.

He didn't even bother toggling through his faux-Omnitrix. There was no point anyway, the stupid watch never gave him the alien he wanted. Kenny slammed his hand down on the watch face and transformed into Wildvine. Swinging out with one of his long tentacle-like vines, Kenny smacked Devlin across the chin.

The blow sent the Osmosian staggering backwards, spitting a bit of blood out of his mouth as he did so. He glared back at Kenny and grinned with bloody teeth. "This is how you're gonna beat me unconscious and take me home? With flower-power and bitch-slaps."

"No." His younger cousin assured him. Wildvine had much more in its arsenal than flower-power and bitch-slaps. "With this!"

Kenny sprouted a number of seeds from his back. Just a handful. These he sent flying at the Osmosian.

Devlin dodged the projectiles, but then they were never meant to actually hit him in the first place. The seeds burst the moment they impacted the floor, sending up a cloud of thick gas that filled the corridor around Devlin. A sedative -sleep gas- that should be enough to put the older by down but leave Wildvine blissfully immune. That way Kenny could drag Devlin back home without any further problems.

At least, that was the plan. Unfortunately, Kenny forgot one minute, tiny, footnote, of a detail that turned out to be rather significant.

There was a cough as the gas cleared just enough for Kenny to see that Devlin had transformed into his mutant form. Four arms, Stinkfly's wings, XLR8's tail, eyes and teeth and claws.

"Nice plan." Devlin gave credit where credit was due. "But you forgot something. Wildvine was one of your Dad's original ten, that means I've got a bit of him in me -which means I'm also immune to his organic substance attacks."

Great. But maybe that was for the best. The faux-Omnitrix timed out at just that moment, so it wasn't like Kenny could have continued to use Wildvine's bio-substance attacks anyway. But now he was a normal human again and Devlin was in his mutant form. That meant that Dev was more than capable of splattering him across the walls and all Kenny could do against his older, larger, and more powerful cousin was try and stay alive long enough for the watch to recharge.

Though he wasn't proud of it, Kenny turned his tail and ran. Back down the corridor in the direction he'd originally come.

Of course, XLR8 was also one of Dad's original ten which meant that Devlin had that one mixed in him as well. Kenny was barely around the corner before Devlin was once again in front of him.

"I'm afraid I can't let you go, Kenny." He said, asymmetrical eyes glaring in a way Kenny had never seen before and it unnerved him. "The Proctor will want to know how you got into the base."

" _Your mom_! That's how." It wasn't just a 'Yo mama!' joke. It was actually the truth. Aunt Gwendolyn carried him and his dad over to the base on one of her mana panels and she was also the one to find the open hole in the exterior plating of the station's armor. Of course, Devlin didn't know that. All he heard was a 'Yo mama!' joke.

With a snarl of rage, the flames of Devlin's Pyronite arm flared. That was Kenny's only warning before the older boy shot a blast of fire at him. Kenny just barely managed to duck back behind the corner before the attack flashed by the side of his head. The worse he got was a bit of singeing of his hair.

"Do I talk about your mom that way!?" The Osmosian bellowed.

Kenny might have snapped back with another snarky comment, but his watched beeped at that moment to indicate that it was recharged and he could once again transform. This time he did try toggling though the aliens. Sure, it almost never gave him the one he wanted, but there was still that point-zero-zero-one percent chance that it just might work right and give him the one he asked for when he asked for it. Kenny raised his hand to slam down on the watch face. But Vulpimancer paw closed around his wrist before he could.

Emerald eyes suddenly wide with panic, Kenny stared at Devlin's paw covering the faux-Omnitrix.

For half a second neither of them breathed. Neither of them blinked. They were both staring at Devlin's hand over the Omnitrix.

Then, as if reading each other's thoughts, their eyes met.

"Dev, don't-" Kenny tried.

But the second the younger boy opened his mouth the moment was broken. Kenny blinked and Devlin's hand tightened over his cousin's wrist as he absorbed the power of the faux-Omnitrix.

A shudder passed through the Osmosian's body. His grip loosened on the other boy's wrist and Kenny pulled his hand way. The Omnitix looked powered down, like it had timed out, but it was _just_ recharged. Not timed out -drained. Devlin absorbed the Omnitrix! Just like Kevin used to do. With horror struck eyes, Kenny stared at his older cousin, no longer recognizing him.

He still had the wings and tail, one Pyronite arm, one Tetramand arm, one Vulpimancer, but his second Vulpimancer hand was replaced by a Galvanic Mechamorph tentacle. He still had two Tetramand eyes, but a third eye from Blitzwolfer. Upchuck's mouth, Waybig's head ornament, and Snare-oh's bandages. Kenny took a step back. Not sure what to do. This had never happened before.

Devlin turned back to his cousin, grinning an unfamiliar and slightly deranged grin. "Kenny… you've been holding out on me…"

…

Minie ran until she had to stop to rest her muscles. Her thick Tetramand build wasn't suited for the speeds she ran at. Her own body weighed her down.

She looked around. Was this the corridor Ally took her down when they brought her to this place? Which direction did they come? Everything looked the same! How did people not get lost in this place!? What would she do if she couldn't find her way out? Why did Ally and Devy even bring her here in the first place!?

Her legs rested, Minie shot off again. Looking for something familiar. Running until she once again tired and had to pause to rest.

This continued for some time. Until, she stopped looking for a way out, or something familiar and just started looking for a place to hide and cry. She didn't know where she was or why she was brought here. She didn't know who these 'Rooters' were or why they wanted to stick her with needles. Devy was acting strange, fighting with her daddy and his mommy. Ally was acting strange too, handing her over to strangers with needles! What was going on!?

It was like she was trapped in an episode of The Scary Door!

Minie found what looked to be an empty bedroom and slunk inside. She hid under the desk and waited -listening to make sure no one was following her. Where she heard no one she stepped out again. This time to try and figure out where she was. The desk she was hiding under was bare, so she started opening drawers, looking for something that might tell her something. She didn't find anything of that sort, but she did find some old -and probably expired- protein bars. These, she tore open and devoured. It wasn't her beloved sugar, but it gave her the calories she needed to resume running.

Another whizzing trip through the halls and corridors of the base and Minie found herself taking refuge in an empty maintenance closet, chugging down water she'd stolen fem the galley. This place was so big and there was so much ground to cover. It would be hard to find a way back home without help. Usually, in a situation like this, she would turn to Ally, or Devy, or Kenny for help. But Devy and Ally were acting strange and Kenny wasn't around. Minie wished he was. OUt of all her big kid friends, Kenny was the coolest!

After finishing the last water bottle, Minie poked her head out of her closet hiding place to make sure the coast was clear. When she was satisfied that it was, she was once again zipping through the base.

She didn't get very far this time.

By pure happen chance and not any real skill or forethought on the anyone's part, Minie crashed headlong into someone's shins. She staggered backwards, dizzy from the collision and sudden loss of forward momentum. She looked up at one of the old men that Devy called his new team. The big pony-tailed man who was trying to help the flying lady stick her with a needle. She took a step back, afraid to take her eyes off him. Minie wasn't ready to start running again and she wasn't sure how else she could escape such a big and scary grown-up.

"Well, if it isn't the brat we've all been looking for." He bent down and picked her up by the collar of her t-shirt. "Why don't you let Uncle Phil take you back to the infirmary so we can get that blood test, hm?"

"You're not my uncle!" Minie snapped back and lashed out with her foot. Throwing all her Tetramand muscle and strength into the kick.

She caught Phil in the collarbone and the old man hollered in pain, dropping the little girl. Minie hit the ground running. Trying to put some distance between herself and the Rooter. She felt rather good about her self just then. She'd never really taken the time to develop the physical power she got from her daddy. Running and racing was always so much fun. But maybe beating up bad guys could be fun too! And it would give her something to do when her speed gave out on her and she couldn't run.

Minie's speed gave out on her and she couldn't run.

She leaned against a wall panting. She didn't give herself enough time to rest. She couldn't have put more than maybe one corridor of distance between herself and Phil this time. That meant that he could find her if he looked. Minie glanced around the corner, and sure enough, there was -not Phil- but a Terroranchula-looking monster coming after her down the corridor. For one terror filled moment of indecision, Minie didn't know what to do. Then, she decided, since she couldn't run, she would stand and fight. Just like her daddy would if he were in this situation. Minie never really tried fighting before, but she wasn't weak!

Stepping out from behind the corner, she faced her opponent. Glaring up at him with all four of her Tetramand eyes.

"Aw, what's this? The little munchkin grew a spine?" The monster teased.

Minie didn't say anything in reply, she did not want to give the bad guy the validation of bantering with him. Instead, she lashed out with another kick, this one aimed at his shins. People always seemed to be in so much pain whenever she ran into their shins. Putting the strength and power she inherited from her daddy into the blow, she did far more damage than when she just ran into people. The Terroranchula-hybrid went down, howling in pain.

"You little brat!" He hollered. "I'll kill you!"

"No. You won't!" Said another voice from behind the Terroranchula.

Uncle Pierce appeared at the end of the hall. He sprinted to cross the distance between them, extending one of his quills and pulling it from his elbow as he ran. He jabbed the Terroranchula in the neck with it the moment he was close enough. Not deep or anything, certainly not deep enough to kill the creature. Just enough for the sleep-sedative in the quill to enter his bloodstream. The Terroranchula fell asleep almost instantly and turned back into a human -Phil Billings.

Pierce stepped over the unconscious man and knelt down to be on eye level with his niece. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you? Let me look at you."

Minie did a little twirled so that her uncle could see that there was nothing the matter with her. Then she launched herself into his arms in a fierce hug. It was so good to see the familiar face of someone she knew!

"You're mom and dad are gonna be so happy to see you." Pierce said, standing. He took Minie by the hand. "Now, lets find a way out of here."

"Wait." She pulled on him. "We can't leave yet! There's something wrong with Devy and Ally! We have to help them!"

"I'm sure Kevin can handle that." Pierce assured her.

But Minie didn't know who that was. She'd never met any 'Kevin' before and she did not trust a stranger to take care of her big kid friends for her. "I'm not leaving without them! You're a grown-up, now that you're here I can stay! I've got 'supervision'. Now lets go find them!"

The little Tetramand girl started pulling on the Quilqupine's arm. To spite her size and age, she was already much stronger than her uncle and it was all Piece could do to keep up with her and avoid getting his arm pulled out of its socket.

"Alright! Alright!" He said. "Lets try and find the control room."

...


	11. Clusterkriff Fight

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Roots

Chapter Eleven: Clusterkriff Fight

"Dev, don't-" Kenny tried.

But the second the younger boy opened his mouth the moment was broken. Kenny blinked and Devlin tightened his hand over the faux-Omnitrix as he absorbed its power.

It was incredible. Different from anything Devlin had ever absorbed before. A strange cocktail of different life-energies and powers of various creatures, blended with the electrical and mechanical charges that allowed the watch to function. No wonder absorbing the Omnitrix always turned Kevin crazy. If a cheap knock-off-Omnitrix felt like this! What must the real thing be like…? Devlin lost himself in the sensation. Suddenly giddy -almost drunk- with the feeling of power that now coursed through him. …And he wanted more…

A shudder passed through the Osmosian's body as his shape changed. One arm morphing from Vulpimancer to Galvanic Mechamorph tentacle. His face strained as his sinuses were once again displaced by his eyes changing shape and position. His jaw creaked as it changed from Ripjaws to Upchuck's. There was a sudden headache when Waybig's head ornament sprouted from his forehead and Snare-oh's bandages wrapped themselves over his back and around his torso.

Devlin's grip loosened on the other boy's wrist and Kenny jerked his hand way.

But more than just the physical changes that came along with absorbing life-energy, there was one other difference Devlin had never noticed before. With all the power already coursing through his body, his vision changed. He could _see_ energy now. The cables and wiring concealed behind the walls glowed as clearly and brightly as if they were right before his eyes. Thin rivers of copper and gold flowing with electrical power. Warm and inviting. And Kenny…

Kenny was a battery of energy all to himself. Glowing in Devlin's eyes with star sapphire light. The energy of life - _mana_. Burning hot and bright, Devlin could almost taste him! He'd absorbed mana before, but the young Osmosian had never really taken the time to noticed just how deliciously intoxicating it really was. Pure energy. Pure life. Pure power. Devlin wanted it.

"Kenny… you've been holding out on me…" He grinned.

The younger boy had never heard his cousin sound like that. But then, Devlin had never absorbed the Omnitrix before, either. Kenny had absolutely no idea what to do, and with his watch now drained of power there wasn't really anything else he could do against his cousin but run. Run fast! Oh, god! How was he going to outrun Devlin when he had XLR8's speed?

But it wasn't like there were many other options open to him. So, Kenny ran.

As fast as he kriffing could!

He rounded a corner, but there was Devlin. Grinning with that disturbing grin. Leering down at him like he wanted to… Kenny couldn't even think of what Devlin might be thinking of doing to him. He turned and ran in the other direction.

But Devlin was there too.

He was just toying with Kenny. If he wanted to kill or absorb the younger boy he could do it at any time. With the watch drained he was completely at his older cousin's mercy. For the first time in his life, Kenny was actually afraid of his cousin. For the first time in his life, Kenny felt helpless and he didn't know what to do. He never would have imagined, not in a million years of eleven parallel demotions that Devlin would turn on him.

Two arms closed around his shoulders, a Tetramand and a Vulpimancer. Devlin picked Kenny up, lifting the younger boy up to eye-level. Kenny stared into mismatched and unfocused red eyes. Staring at him with cloudy hunger.

"All this time… I never knew…" Whispered the Osmosian.

"Dev… Snap out of it. This isn't you." Kenny pleaded. "You don't like absorbing stuff. Remember. Its a bad guy thing. Its a Kevin thing. You don't wanna be like Kevin, do you?"

The hunger in his eyes turned to sudden rage and Devlin slammed Kenny to the ground - _hard_!

"Stop comparing me to him!" The Osmosian snarled. "I'm nothing like him! I'm better than him!"

With a groan, Kenny pushed himself on to his knees and looked up at Devlin. Truth be told, Kenny had no idea how accurate his assessment was. He had certainly never witnessed any of the times Kevin had absorbed the Omnitrix, only just heard stories. But from what he had heard, the only difference between Kevin and Devlin was that Devlin hadn't absorbed the _real_ Omnitrix. A difference that did not seem all that significant to Kenny at this exact moment. And, as Kenny knew from the stories, it was impossible to talk an Osmosian down when they were on a literal Power Trip.

Still, Kenny tired. "Then prove it! Prove to me you're better than Kevin! Change back. Release the energy you took and go back to normal."

"Normal?" Devlin echoed, laughing low in the back of his throat. A deep, dark, rumbling, inhuman laugh that sent chills running up the other boy's spine. "What's 'normal' in this family? Really?"

He picked Kenny up again. This time using the Mechamorph tentacle. Slithering the long pliant limb around Kenny's body like a hungry serpent. Once again on eye level, Devlin continued. "But you've always been with me, Kenny. For as long as I can remember, we've always been together… Why don't we grow closer?"

Swallowing a nervous lump of terror that had formed in the back of his throat, Kenny asked, "What does that mean?"

"It means… I want you _inside me!_ "

Kenny did not have an opportunity to be disgusted by that statement. Before the words were even finished, Devlin began absorbing his cousin's life-energy. Kenny winced, his whole body going tense as his very essence was ripped from his living flesh and syphoned into the Osmosian.

He was going to die! Dear god! Devlin was killing him!

Then something incredible happened. He was saved!

A blast of pure radiation, like the kind wielded by the Prypiotosian-B race, struck Devlin in the back and he dropped Kenny who -to spite his weakened state- managed to crawl away. When he was clear of the Osmosian he looked up at his rescuer, expecting to see his father as one of his aliens. Instead, Kenny looked up at the black proto-tech armor clad form of a Rooter. The human-Prypiotosian-B hybrid. What did Kevin say his name was…? Lawrence? Levi? Leander? Yeah! Leander, that was the one.

"Thanks." Kenny groaned, as he attempted to climb to his feet. He hoped that the Rooter wasn't gonna attack him too now. I mean, the guy was on the other team. He was technically a bad guy. He might have just been saving him from Devlin because of some diabolical and convoluted bad guy reason. But for some reason, Kenny got the idea that that wasn't the case.

Leander stepped between Kenny and the Osmosian, bringing his hands up and in quick, agitated motions, signed a question. Wait. Leander had to sign? He couldn't just talk?

"Stay out of this, Leander!" Devlin snarled. "This has nothing to do with you!"

The mute Rooter signed something else.

"I don't care what's going on with the Proctor right now. _Kenny is mine!_ " And Devlin attacked.

The Osmosian jumped at the Prypiotosian-B hybrid and Leander lifted his head to shoot another blast of radiation through the grill over his faceplate just as Kenny's watch beeped that it was finally recharged again. It took a bit longer because it had been completely drained instead of just timing out. Kenny slammed his hand down on it, not caring what alien it might give him. Just as Devlin grabbed Leander and absorbed his radioactive life from him.

Kenny transformed into XLR8 and sped away, not even bothering to look back and see if Devlin left the Rooter completely empty -dead- or just drained, unconcious but still alive.

Their speeds were matched now and Devlin followed Kenny through the base, calling taunts and jeers after him. Maybe rushing off without a plan or even fully understanding what he was getting into wasn't the best idea he'd ever had. But if Kenny could find Dad or Aunt Gwendolyn, then one of them could fix this. They always managed to fix Kevin in all the stories. They could fix Devlin too.

He just had to find them.

…

"You don't get it do you?" Kevin snarled. "You were the real target here, Tennyson. You're the Coming Storm!"

If they weren't in the middle of a fight and had the time to pause, Ben would have stopped to gape at his friend. Him the Coming Storm? He was the great and terrible enemy the Rooters had devoted their lives to defeating? But, he wasn't a bad guy. In fact, he had saved the universe almost half a dozen times by now. How could the Rooters -never mind the Rooters, how could _any_ Plumbers team- think he was a danger or a threat that had to be removed?

"That doesn't make sense!" Ben might have said more. But at that moment was when the bubble shield Gwen had trapped Billings and Ally in finally burst from the pressure of their combined fire and ice powers.

"Explanations later!" Alan snapped, once again placing himself between the kids and Ben and Kevin. Not so much to protect either man, but more to protect his daughter from their aggressive self-defense. While the Pyronite knew Ben wouldn't intentionally hurt Ally, he had no such securities about Kevin. Kevin could be vicious.

Billings drew in a breath, but before the freezing attack could connect with the Pyronite, Gwen threw up a new mana shield.

"We need a plan." She informed the men. "None of us wanna hurt the kids, but so long as they're under Servantis' control they have no problem hurting us. That gives them an advantage."

"So we remove the one controlling them." Kevin turned from the fight before him and slaked back to the Proctor, laying prostrate on the floor with Swift unconscious next to him. He morphed one hand into a blade.

Servantis watched the Osmosian come, unable to move. He could have used his psychic powers to stop the man, but instead all he did was laugh. Laugh. "Oh… so like you, Kevin. Violence solves everything. But are you so sure killing me will return your friends' children to normal? Or, perhaps, without a master to direct them, their befuddled minds would break and they might go insane."

That got the other adults in the room's attention.

"Kevin, don't hurt him!" Alan, Manny, Ben, Helen and Gwen all shouted in unison.

"He's lying!" Kevin snarled back at them. "I've been inside his head. Its what he does! I can get rid of the mind control. I just need a bit more ability…"

The blade hand turned back into a real hand, the metal armor fading from Kevin's body as he bent down next to Servantis. His hand was almost around the older man's throat when they were once again distracted by the control room door opening once again.

A panicked streak of blue zipped into the room. There was the beeping chime of a time-out warning and then the blue blur spontaneously changed back into a human boy. Kenny skidded across the floor. Tripped over the sudden loss of speed. But kept tumbling with momentum until he collided with Kevin. Both men fell into a heap on the ground next to Servantis.

Fueled by adrenaline, Kenny was the first to recover, pushing himself up to his knees. He recognized the thing that broke his tumble as Kevin and grabbed the older man by the collar of his proto-tech armor.

" _This is all your fault!_ "

"What?" Kevin blinked. But he didn't get the opportunity to wonder what the kid was talking about, because at that moment a monster crashed throughout the still open door.

Large and hulking. A mix of aliens in a combination Kevin hadn't seen before. The original ten were there. But there was also Galvanic Mechamorph, Gourmand, Loboan, To'kustar, and Thep Khufan. For half a second, Kevin didn't know what was going on or where this new creature had come from. But then his brain caught up with his surprise and he remembered there was only one other being in this base that had the potential to become something like that. His shock quickly turned to horror when he realized who it was and what must have happened.

"Holy Hell! Devlin pulled a Kevin!" Helen exclaimed before her distractedness allowed her to remain motionless and open long enough for Ally to get in one good fiery blast.

"Crap. I gotta deal with this now too!" Ben -in the form of Cannonbolt- moaned before he curled up into a ball and rolled across the room to sweep Kenny up in his protective armored hold.

Devlin ignored everyone else in the room and focused only on Kenny, currently rolling away within Cannonbolt's protective shell. "Kenny's _mine_!"

The Osmosian leapt at the Arburian Pelarota. Beating his Lepidopterran wings, Devlin crossed the space between them and got in front of the yellow ball of rolling armor that held his prey. Ben bounced off the Osmosian's knees, involuntarily uncurling himself from around his son. Kenny bounced away from his father and Devlin lunged after him.

Ben skidded across the floor. Landed on Kevin. And changed back into human form.

"Ooph! You couldn't have changed back _before_ you landed on me!" Snarled the Osmosian.

Manny and Alan were busy with Ally and Billings.

Gwen divided her attention between shielding the men from the children, and now protecting her nephew from her son. She threw a bubble shield around Kenny just as Devlin was about to land on top of him. He bounced off his mother's shield, but didn't stay down long. The mount he realized the only thing between himself and his chosen prey was just more delicious mana, he absorbed the bubble and was after Kenny again.

"Don't use your powers, Red!" Ben shouted at her. "Didn't you learn anything from Ultimate Kevin!"

That sparkced Kevin's memory. Back then all it look was a small taste of Gwen's tantalizing and addictive mana to drive him into a mad frenzy. Pursuing her at almost any cost to get at her. Gwen was able to turn him back with the help of Darkstar and Cooper. But Ben's solution was to kill him instead. With a new wave of panicked horror Kevin turned to Ben. "Tennyson! I swear if you-"

"Not now!" Ben was toggling through his Omnitrix again. Looking for something that could go up against an Osmosian without getting in close enough for said Osmosian to touch him. He was about to slam his hand down on Echo Echo when Kevin grabbed his wrist.

"Tennyson. I need to know what you're thinking." He growled.

"Let me go, Kevin. I know what I'm doing."

" _I_ need to know what you're doing."

The battle between the Amalgams and the kids was still raging on around them, while Kenny was madly managing to evade his cousin, and Gwen desperately tried to help both groups while still keeping herself out of the main line of fire. All the wile, Servantis laid there and laughed.

"I'm gonna stop Devlin and save my son." Ben said as if this should have been obvious.

" _How?_ " Kevin pressed. "Tennyson, thats my son too. I need to know what you're gonna do to him. Or else… or else _I won't let you_."

Then Ben asked what was probably the dumbest question he could have said to an Osmosian who already hand his hand dangerously close to the Omnitrix. "And how would you stop me?"

"Like this."

In hindsight, Ben should have know this would happen. What Kevin would do. He should not have been shocked when Kevin shifted his hand just enough to touch the watch face and absorb the Omnitrix. The real Omnitrix, not a tony reproduction, or Ultimatrix. But the real deal with over ten thousand aliens, all of their abilities and powers, and the watch's own power too.

Ben rolled away from Kevin's body which was suddenly shuddering from the change of a new mutation.

Crashhopper's legs below Shocksquat's torso, the Worst's fist on Gravattack's arm. Another arm from Bloxx. One wing from Pesky Dust, the other from Astrodactyl. The face was still mostly Kevin's own, but the mouth now came from Whampire, and was crowned by Ball Weevil's head ornament, and surrounded by a main of dark hair that shifted into Feedback's antennae half-way down his back.

"Damn it, Ben!" Gwen snarled at him.

"How is this my fault!?" Ben snapped back at her, slowly backing up from his on-again-off-again best friend.

Ben and Gwen came back-to-back to each other. Glancing around themselves, eyes wide with horror, at the chaos that raged. Helen, Manny, and Alan fighting Ally and Dylan Billings. Devlin in a newly mutated form trying to absorb Kenny, while Kenny ran, and jumped, and dodged madly for his life. And now Kevin, freshly mutated as well after absorbing the Omnitrix for -what was this, the _fourth_ time now!?

"You focus on the kids." Ben commanded her. "Keep them from doing something they're gonna regret once we wake them up from Servantis' control. I'll take care of Kevin and Devlin."

"You can't fight them both on your own!" Gwen snapped back. Ben could barely handle Kevin alone.

"You can't fight either of them at all!" Ben snarled back. "Unless you want your own son or baby-daddy to absorb you too!"

"Will you two stop freaking out!" Kevin shouted over their mid-battle bickering. "I've never been saner." -They both looked skeptical.- "And I'll take care of _all_ of this."

Now they _knew_ he was crazy.

Kevin stretched his knew limbs and cracked his neck, taking a moment to get used to the new body he found himself in. Mutating bodies just wasn't as fun as it used to be. The rushed was gone. Replaced by just an old, tired feeling. Sure that he more or less had the hang of his new body -at least enough to do what he needed to do- the Osmosian stalked back to Servantis. Not Devlin. Not Ally and Billing. But the Proctor laying impotent on the floor.

He closed one Worst hand around the paralyzed man's throat and lifted him up off the floor. "It was an accident when I absorbed your power before. I'll be sure to get all of it this time."

And he slammed his forehead against Servantis'. The impact shattered the jewel on his head and his Cerebrocrustatian cranium split from the stews, hanging open, his brain exposed. Steam rose from both men. The Kevin released the Proctor and fell to the ground unconscious.

"How is settling a grudge helping?" Ben demanded.

Ignoring the Hero of the Universe, Kevin turned his attention to the kids. He jumped on Devlin, tackling the younger Osmosian to the ground. Holding him down. Pinning both wings with a pile of Bloxx's blocks. Holding as many of his arms, tentacles and other miscellaneous limbs down as best he could. Devlin struggled against him in his effort to get free and get at his cousin, but Kevin was bigger and had more powers and he kept the boy down.

When he was sure Devlin was adequately subdued, he turned his head, lifted the Feedback antennae and got a hold of Ally and billings. Each antennae plugging into the back of each teen's neck. Then he sent a charge of the psychic power he absorbed from Servatnis through the wires. Cleansed the children of their puppet strings and locked the door to their minds so that no other telepath or mind-reader could influence or control them again. Alan's caught Ally. Dylan Billings from the Weekend Academy. And… not Devlin?

Kevin released the other two and stared down at his son -now blissfully unconscious. Devlin hadn't been under mind control like the others.

"What did you do!?" Alan demanded, lifting his -also now unconscious- daughter up off the floor.

But the others wouldn't know that. He was the only one inside the kids' heads. He would be the only one who knew. Who ever knew that Devlin was just as crazy as he was and for a short time had turned his back on and betrayed his family and their friends. Kevin forced his expression into something lighthearted and relaxed. "I cleared out the mind control." He said. "And made it so that no one can control them again."

"I knew there was something wrong with Dev!" Kenny crawled to his cousin's side and held his unconscious hand. "Is this gonna be his new form now?"

"I don't know." Gwen admitted. She knelt next to her son and placed a hand to his now unfamiliar head to read his mana. After a few moments she withdrew her hand, shaking her head. "Devlin's got a pretty wide threshold for power thanks to me. But the Omnitrix is the most powerful weapon in the universe, its still to much for him. When he wakes up he'll be just as crazy as he was before Kevin tackled him."

"But Kevin got rid of the mind control. Right?" The younger boy insisted. "That means he'll be normal."

"We need to syphon off the surplus power first." Gwen said.

"I can take care of that too." Kevin placed one over-sized hand to the side of his son's head and absorbed the excess energy from Devlin.

The boy's form changed almost instantly. The extra limbs, mismatched eyes, head ornaments, claws, and wings, all melting back into his body. In less than a minute, the boy back in human form and -blissfully- clothed in the invulnerable proto-tech armor.

"You're surprisingly lucid." Manny observed.

His son normal again, Kevin turned from the boy to offer his friend a smile. Not something faked or forced but an actual smile. He was rather proud of himself. This was the most sane he'd been after absorbing the Omnitrix since… ever. "Yeah. I think that first bit of psychic power from Servantis really helped me out more than I realized."

"What about Minie?" Helen demanded. "Where's my daughter in all of this!?"

There was a pause i which everyone stood around glancing between one another. In all the commotion and confusion of battling the Rooters, Ben randomly showing up, and subduing the kids, no one really took the time to wonder where one little Kineceleran-Tetramand girl could be.

"Dev mentioned that she ran off and is hiding somewhere on the station." Kenny supplied. "He was looking for her when I ran into him."

Nobody seemed particularly assured by this information.

"C'mon." Kevin shrugged. "How hard could it be to find one kid?"

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. Of course, having spent the last two decades in the Null Void, he did not have the privilege of watching Herminie Armstrong grow up and so did not understand just how much of a handful she could be. Minie was a master champion of Hide-in-Seek.

Luckily, they didn't have to search for her. Pierce stepped through the broken control room door at that very moment, carrying Minie on his hip.

"Hey guys. Am I late to the party again?" He glanced around the room. Devlin, Ally, and the Necrofriggian all unconscious. Servantis and Swift in a heap on the opposite side of the room, also unconscious. Everyone else looking exhausted but relived. "I found Minie."

Helen had crossed the room and was at her brother's side in less time than it took to blink his eyes. She pulled her daughter out of his arms and hugged her tightly. "You have no idea how relived I am to see you!"

"Mommy -eh!- I can't breath." The little girl gasped.

Everyone else seemed to find this very amusing and they shared a light laugh of camaraderie at mother and daughter being reunited.

"Well, as fun as this is -hamming it up after a victory-" Kevin began, lifting his own child up into his arms, "-I'm tired. Can we all just go home?"

…

"I managed to speak with the Magistrata directly." Max was explaining.

Everyone had gathered in the living room of the Plumber's Headquarters where they could have a beer to take the edge off or ice their wounds as needed while Max explained what he was up to while they were getting getting beat and delivering beatings.

"What did she say?" Asked Gwen.

"Apparently, Servantis has been slowly falling out of contact with her for a while." He continued. "A few late reports, Incomplete mission statements, documents going missing from his files… The Magistrata was already suspicious long before I called. This fiasco was just the catalyst she needed to pull the plug on the Rooters project entirely."

"Meaning…?" Alan prompted.

"Meaning they've been stripped of their ranks and privileges as Plumbers and returned to the status of regular civilians." Max explained. "Their base and all their weapons, their access, influence, and immunity -all gone. Pretty, much the only things they got to keep were the clothes on their backs. Servantis was taken in for medical treatment-" Here Max fixed Kevin with a pointed glare, "-apparently, he'll never walk again. When he's released from the main hospital on Galvan he'll serve a life sentence at one of the Incarcercon facilities."

"Good." Nodded the Osmosian. Let the bastard rot in Incarcercon. It was a fate Kevin would only ever wish on his most hated enemy, and Hector Servantis had earned that distinction.

"What about the rest of the Rooters?" Asked Helen.

"Without their base and weapons… they were just left in the Null Void."

There was a general rumbling of approval from the crowd.

"So, everything's pretty much resolved then." Ben said.

"We still need to figure out what to do about the kids when they wake up." Manny reminded everyone. "I mean, do we punish them, or not? They were under mind control so its not really their fault, but… Devlin and Ally did kidnap my little girl."

"We should also get in contact with Dylan Billing's parents." Gwen added. "We haven't heard anything from them during this whole fiasco. I'm sure they must be just as worried sick as we were."

"Dylan Billings is a ward of the state." Pierce supplied. As administrator overseeing the Weekend Academy, he had access to all cadet's files and information. "Kids run away or disappear from foster homes all the time. I doubt they seriously care that he hasn't been home in -what's it been, three days now?. If they are upset, its because they don't get to cash that extra five thousand terran check he brought in."

"So we take care of Dylan, too." Ben said with a shrug, as if this should have been obvious.

"He and Dev hate each other." Kenny informed his father. "Like, really, really hate each other. Dev kinda 'usurped' command of a training exercise from him when we first enrolled in the Academy and they've hated each other ever since."

"I didn't see any of that when they were trying to take Minie." Ben shook his head. They seemed to work together pretty cohesively. They even shared friendly mid-battle banter.

"Mind control." Manny reminded him. "Servantis probably had them all wired to work together without their personal problems getting in the way."

Gwen pursed her lips at that, but said nothing. If that was really the case, if Servantis had the kids wired so that their personal problems wouldn't get in the way of the missions he sent them on, then Devlin wouldn't have had that outburst where he basically told her she was a different person around Kevin and he didn't like her when she was around him. So, either Servantis' mind-control wasn't completely full proof, or else Devlin was somehow immune to it. _That_ was a frightening thought, because it meant that her son had done everything of his own volition. That was a worrying thought.

"Why don't we wait until the kids wake up and we can talk to them before we start deciding what we're gonna do." Max suggested.

…


	12. Crazy's Genetic

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Roots

Chapter Twelve: Crazy's Genetic

Dylan billings was already awake when they entered the room.

Not all the adults, just Ben and Pierce. They figured being confronted with all seven of them would be a little overwhelming and put the boy on edge. Defensive. Like he was being accused and had to retaliate. So, only Ben -as the Hero of the Universe and currently highest ranked active Plumber in the Sol System- and Pierce -as overseer of the Weekend Academy- were the safest choices to take the boy's statement.

Then again, maybe not. Dylan practically leapt out of bed when he was Magisters Tennyson and Wheels enter his room. "Are you gonna arrest me!? But it wasn't my fault! It was Fake-Tennyson and Servantis! They did something to my head. Made everything they said sound like a good idea! Its not my fault!"

"Easy, boyo, sit down." Pierce raised what he hopped was a pacifying hand. "We know it not your fault. All you kids were under Servantis' control. We just wanted to see how you were doing. Make sure you're okay -and take your statement."

Dylan did seem to relax at that. He wasn't in trouble. They just needed him to fill them in on the blanks. What happened. How did he get mixed up with the Rooters? Things like that. The boy climbed back into bed. His head was hurting a little bit. Probably coming down from whatever mind-control or head games Servantis had played with him.

"Start from the beginning." Ben said. "How did you meet Servantis?"

With a sigh, Dylan began. "A guy called Phil came to me on Monday after school. Said he was dad's uncle or something and that he was special ops Plumber. Told me his commanding officer was impressed with my scores at the academy and wanted to offer me a job. I'm almost eighteen. I'm gonna age-up into the real Academy this summer, so I didn't think anything was strange about it -the job offer, I mean. Not the guy. I'd never heard of any 'Uncle Phil' before. -Not that my drunk moron of a father ever talked much about his side of the family."

"Lets stay on point." Ben reminded him. Pierce already said Dylan was a ward of the state. Ben didn't need to invade the boy's privacy any more than that. "What happened after that?"

"I decided to follow up on his job offer. Agreed to meet with his commander and if I liked what he had to say, I might consider the position." Dylan's hands balled into fists as he continued. "Fake-Tennyson was already there with Servantis. He was being offered the same job and like hell was I gonna let that micro-managing, obsessive compulsive, little pissant take a job that should have been mine. So we started to argue. Might have actually come to blows too. I've wanted to hit the bastard since the fist moment I met him at the Academy."

"Please remember that is my nephew." Ben reminded him.

Dylan's expression turned dark. He did not much like being reminded that his rival and nemesis, was family of the highest ranked Plumber in the Sol System and protected by him. Ben Tennyson had managed to convince the President of Earth to pardon Kevin 11,000. There was no doubt in Dylan's mind that, however this ended, Devlin 'Fake-Tennyson' Levin would come out of it just as squeaky clean. Untouched. It just wasn't fair!

"Anyway…" He began again. Intent to finish his narrative. "Fake-Tennyson and I were about to fight and then Servantis hits us with this weird red lightning. It made my head go all fuzzy. Like I was buzzed -uh… Like what I imagine being buzzed is like. I wouldn't really know. I'm to young to get buzzed. Uh-heh… Uh, we asked him what it was and he was just saying he was making a 'psychic link' between us and the team leader. He never actually told us which of us was the 'team leader'."

"Servantis was." Pierce informed him. "He always was. I know how he operates. When I was your age-"

Ben put a hand on the other man's shoulder. "We should let the kid rest."

They moved to leave but Dylan reached out and grabbed Pierce by the wrist. "Magister Wheels! Am I gonna be expelled from the Weekend Academy for this? I only have a few months left. If you expel me, or deny me promotion into the real Academy…?" He let his question trail off there.

Pierce -gently- pried the boy's hand off his wrist, carful not to catch Dylan's skin on any of his quills. "I know it wasn't your fault, Billings. You had no control over yourself. So long as you pass your psychologicals at the end of the term, there's no reason to deny you."

The boy relaxed noticeably.

…

The first thing Devlin became aware of was that he had a pounding headache. No. 'Pounding' was to soft a word. It was the worst headache he'd ever had in his life. Like someone landed the Rust Bucket on his head without proper landing gear, then proceeded to cram an entire drum set in his ears. The Osmosian wished his head would just go ahead and explode already and save him the suffering. Was this what being hung over was like for grown-ups? If so, Devlin planned to never drink -ever. If coming down from alcohol was anything like coming down from absorbing to much energy, he could do without it.

The second thing Devlin became aware of was a soft mattress beneath him and light cotton sheets above him. He was in a bed, and judging from how comfortable it was, not the bed in his barracks at the Rooter's base.

He opened his eyes and saw the family standing around his bed in a semi-circle -all starring down at him. Kevin, Mom, Uncle Ben, Grandpa Max, and Kenny. The Osmosian practically jumped at seeing himself surrounded.

"Its okay, Dev." Kenny assured him. "Kevin got rid of the mind control. We know nothing was your fault. Servantis was just controlling you."

Devlin blinked in confusion, not fully grasping what his cousin was talking about. Mind-control, what? He was pretty sure he was in full command of his own mind while he was working for the Proctor. Speaking of, where was the Proctor? The last thing Devlin remembered was chasing Kenny through the Rooters' base and- oh god Kenny! Devlin's eyes snapped to the younger boy, giving him a much more critical examination.

He looked alright. There was the normal color in his face, he wasn't pale or ashen. His cheeks and muscles looked full and firm, not shrunken, unnaturally skinny, or thin. His hair was still a bright auburn bordering on a brownish red, not white or gray. He looked normal. Fine. So, he hadn't drained him of energy. Thank goodness. Devlin didn't know what came over him. After he absorbed the faux-Omnitrix -fake though it was- the sudden power coursing through him… the new alien DNA pumping in his veins… It made Devlin feel strong. Confident. Powerful. It was like a drug. He loved the feeling and he wanted more.

 _More…_ No wonder Kevin always went crazy every time he absorbed to much power.

But that craziness… that _insanity_ drove him to almost absorb the most important person in his life. Just like his father tried to do to his mother once…

"Kenny, I-" He averted his eyes. To ashamed to look at his cousin. "I'm sorry. I just- it was- I don't know what to say…"

"Its okay, Dev." The younger boy assured him. "I know Osmosians go cray-cray when they suck up to much energy. I'm glad you're back though."

"But I-" Devlin didn't think he deserved to be forgiven that easily.

"If you want, I can think of a way for you to make it up to me." Kenny added with a bit of an evil grin.

Ah, _that_ was more like it. Forgive him and punish him at the same time. Knowing Kenny it would probably involve Devlin being made to play co-op on any and all video games of the younger boy's choice. Either that, or do his homework for him for a year. Or do all his chores around the house for a year. Or maybe just be his slave for a year. Devlin could handle that. "Sure. Anything you want."

There was a relived pause in which no one said anything. The family was to glad to have their child back to know what to say. Then Kevin cleared his throat.

"Guys, I need the room." He informed them. "There's something I gotta say to my son -Osmosian to Osmosian. Ya know."

Of course they all figured Devlin would have questions. This was the first time he'd ever absorbed anything as powerful as the Omnitrix. While Kevin, on the other hand, had absorbed the Omnitrix, the Ultimatrix, Aggregore's power, all their friends' powers, and the powers and abilities of 11,000 other aliens across the universe. If there was ever any 'sagely advice' to be given about absorbing to much energy, Kevin was the one to give it. With a nod, Ben shuffled Gwen and Kenny out of the room.

Kevin wait until the count of ten after the door was closed to make sure the rest of the family was out of ear-shot. Then he turned to face his son. But it was not sagely advice that he was planning to share.

"So, mind-control, huh?" Devlin ventured conversationally.

"Cut the crap and listen." Kevin cut him off. He leaned down over the bed to be on eye-level with the boy. Almost nose-to-nose. Invading the younger man's personal space. "I was inside your head and you and I both know that you were never under Servantis' control."

Devlin looked suddenly alarmed. He knew the mind-control excuse was just a little to easy. He certainly never felt like he was being controlled that whole time he was working for the Rooters. Every mission he went on and every decision he made was all his own. Right up to the part where he absorbed Kenny's faux-Omnitirx. When he woke up and everyone was calling it 'mind-control' Devlin figured it was best to just play along and avoid punishment and worse, everyone having un-refutable proof that he was just as terrible a monster as his father. No better than Kevin 11,000. Devlin couldn't take that. He just couldn't handle it.

"Are you going to tell the others?" He asked, a lump forming in his throat. Of course, continuing to attend the Academy was out of the question now. He'd fail his Psychologicals in a heartbeat. But what else would they do? Would he be thrown in the Null Void with the rest of the criminals of the universe? Would he be imprisoned in one of the many and varied Plumbers' prisons across the universe and the Null Void? What if they put him in the exact same cell Kevin used to occupy!?

"No." Kevin straightened.

"No?" Devlin echoed, disbelieving.

"No." Kevin repeated. "As far as I'm concerned no one else has to know. I'll keep your secret. But _you_ have to make a change."

"What kind of change?" Now Devlin was suspicious. Kenny's 'punishments' he knew and understood, and could deal with easily. Kevin, on the other hand, was still an unfamiliar and unquantifiable anomaly in his life. He couldn't predict what kind of demands the older man might make on him or if they would be within his abilities or his tolerances to meet.

"Firstly, you're gonna stop calling me 'Kevin' and start calling me 'Dad'." He began. Devlin blinked at him. That was not the kind of thing he was expecting. But he said nothing and let Kevin continue without protest. "Secondly, you're gonna stop being an impatient and snotty little brat when I try to spend time with you and get to know you. I get that you still resent me for never being here when you were growing up and being a galactic Big Bad, that makes it hard for you to get along with your peers. Yes, that's my fault, but I'm trying to make up for it with you. The least you can do is meet me half way. Finally, until I can build a new one, the car is _mine_. I get to drive it whenever I need."

"Do you even have a license anymore!?" The boy exclaimed. "You can't possibly be certified to drive a hover vehicle. The skylanes didn't even exist sixteen years ago!"

"That's for me to worry about." Kevin brushed off the boy's protests. It would be the thing he gets most worked up about is the car, or 'Lexie' as he named her. "Do you agree to the deal or not? Oh! Also, you have to spend more time with your grandmother. She says she never gets to see you anymore."

Devlin thought about the terms. Kevin would keep his secret and allow everyone else to continue thinking he was under mind control the same as Ally and Billings if he just called him 'Dad' instead of 'Kevin', and didn't try to storm off in a huff every time Kevin tried to spend time with him. Objectively, they didn't sound like bad terms. But at the same time, to spite the fact that Devlin did want to get to know his father better, it was still very uncomfortable being alone with him. Awkward. Like there was a giant elephant in the room that both of them were aware of, both had mentioned a little bit, but both were downplaying, or outright trying to ignore. Devlin could try fulfilling Kevin's terms, but he wasn't sure how long he could keep them up.

"Well?" Kevin prompted.

"I'll try, Kev- uh, Dad." The word felt strange and uncomfortable in his mouth. This was going to be harder than he thought.

"See. That wasn't so hard." Kevin slapped the kid's knee. He turned to exit the room.

"Uh, Dad?" Devlin asked before he could leave. "The others- Ally and Minie- what happened to them?"

"The girls are already back home with their parents." He informed the boy. "Pierce is looking into finding a different foster home for the Billings kid, and researching a way to take the Necrofriggian back out of him and make him human again. Oh! Also, Pierce wants you all to attend regular group therapy. Says he's making it mandatory if you want to stay in the Academy. Personally, I think he's coddling you all. Back in my day-"

"So, Speedy's alright?" Devlin cut his father off before he could launch into a cliche old-man speech about back in his day.

"She's actually better off than the rest of you are right now." Kevin assured him.

"And she's not mad at me?"

"She thinks you were under mind-control, same as everyone else." Kevin reminded him. "Besides. Now that you've done it once, I guarantee you this won't be the last time you go crazy and hurt your friends." It was wrong how cheerful he sounded when he said that. Like this was some sort of 'Right of Passage' and he was actually _proud_ of Devlin for going half-mad and putting his friends in danger. "What's a little betrayal and kidnapping between friends? Water under a bridge. Or, at least, water near a bridge."

...

There was an awful lot of impatient or uncomfortable tapping. Tapping feet. Tapping fingers. A stylus tapping on a datapad. Nobody really knew what they were supposed to be doing or saying. This was a stupid idea anyway. They didn't need counciling. Ally, Minie, Devlin, Dylan, and Kenny all exchanged glances.

"So… what's supposed to happen here?" Dylan asked after the uncomfortable silence dragged on long enough. "Are we, like, just supposed to start talking? Are you gonna ask us questions?"

"Do you want me to ask you questions?" Asked the councilor -read: therapist.

Dylan barred his teeth in snarl and jabbed an accusatory finger at the councilor. "Don't do that! Don't answer my question with another question! I hate it when you shrinks pull that crap!"

The councilor stopped tapping her stylus and made a note on the datapad. "You've been to a therapist before?"

"Don't they give you files and crap?" Dylan snapped. "Don't play kriffing mind-games. You know where I've been."

There was another beat of silence as the councilor made another note on her datapad. The rest of the kids exchanged another glance.

"I have a question." Then Kenny raised his hand as if they were in school. "Why am I here? I mean, I get they they're all here. Mind-control, mind-control, kidnaped, mind-control." -he pointed to each of his fellow councils in turn- "But what am I doing here? Nobody tried to kidnap me. Nobody tried to control my mind. I'm cool. So, what am I doing here?"

The councilor didn't answer immediately. First she made a few more notes on her datapad. Then she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and asked, "So, you're telling me you're cool. You have no reason to be here?"

"That is what I just said." Kenny grumbled indignantly.

"So, you have no lasting anxieties or trust issues with your cousin?" She never broke eye contact with Kenny, but the boy quickly glanced to the opposite side of the circle of chairs at Devlin. He was sitting across from Devlin, not next to him. "His absorbing your Omnitrix and trying to absorb you, had no affect on you. You're not bothered at all. You're cool."

"Totally cool." Kenny nodded. "Dev and I are always cool."

"Well, I'm not cool." Ally confessed outright. She didn't believe in wasting energy on ego and bravado. That was a boy thing. Ally was more practical than that. "I am really, really not cool. I mean, while I was under mind-control, not only did kidnap Minie -someone I babysit for almost all the time- but I also tried to kill Kenny's dad and my own because he got in the way! I am really not cool with that. Really, really not cool!"

"I'm not cool either!" Minie stood up in her chair to command attention. "I was in a base full of bad guys and I was smart, and fast, and kept my head together. I took care of myself while no one else was around to take care of me and I get absolutely no credit! I can deal with bad guys just as much as the rest of you, but every time I try and talk to Mommy or Daddy about it, its always 'you're still to young this' or 'its much to dangerous for my little baby that'. I wanna beat-up bad guys!"

"And you don't think that's an unusual passion for someone your age to have." The councilor made another note.

"No." Minie shook her head. "I'm at the perfect age to break into the hero industry. Magister Tennyson started at my age! And Devy's mommy, too!"

That was true. They had. The councilor made another note. Then put her stylus back down, turning her attention to the one person in the room who hadn't yet spoken. Hadn't said a word, in fact, since he and Kenny were dropped off by his father and watched the green and black muscle car drive away. "Devlin, is there anything you'd like to share?"

The Osmosian crossed his arms over his chest -defensive body language. "No."

"So, like Kenny, you're also… _cool_."

"As a cucumber." The Osmosian assured her. Never mind that he was just returning from being one of the bad guys, kiddnapping a family friend, absorbing one of the Omnitrixes, trying to absorb his cousin, and -on top of every now- was now being blackmailed by his father. "I'm totally cool."

…

Kevin cut wood while Devlin sanded. It hadn't taken them long to rip out the old porch railing. The time consuming part was putting a new railing back in. New wood, cut and shaped, sanded, painted, and weather-sealed.

Leah brought out a tray of cucumber sandwiches. "Its so nice, seeing you working together. Like a real father and son."

"They are real father and son." Gwen was just a half-step behind her with lemonade.

"And its nice to see them acting it. Have a sandwich." Leah shoved a cucumber sandwich in her son's mouth her with free hand before moving the tray closer to Devlin. "Oh! By the way, Kevin, did you ever get a chance to ask Mr. Servantis if he knew Devin?"

Devlin's eyes snapped up for a moment, the power-sander in his hands skipped a stroke before he quickly got back on task. Kevin nearly choked on his sandwich. He coughed a few times to clear his air-passage, swallowed what to coughed up and then stared at his mother. He had been in Servantis' head. He knew everything now -at least, everything that Servantis knew- but he had forgotten that she didn't know. But there was one thing he was sure of. She didn't need to know. His mother seemed fairly satisfied -happy- with her life as she knew it. He didn't need to go changing the past that she knew.

"Yeah." Kevin croaked. "Yeah, Mom, he knew Devin. Servantis knew Devin really well."

"I see. That must be why the name was so familiar. Devin must have talked about him." She agreed. "I had a feel he had something to do with your father. A shame he turned out to be such a bad man. But, oh well." She shrugged and went back inside.

Gwen waited until her mother-in-law was back inside, the door closed behind her before turned to Kevin and saying, "But, ya know, it does make me wonder…"

"About what?" Both men asked her.

"Well, if Devin Levin never existed, then, who's your father, Kevin?"

Devlin glanced between his parents. Noting his mother's casual air, she was just wondering out loud, not actually expecting an answer. Kevin, on the other hand, went very, very tense. His motions cutting the wood became mechanical, as if trying to distract himself with the task.

"I haven't got a father." Kevin answered.

…

 _Some Years Ago…_

 _Hector stared at the document that was thrust in front of him, along with the woman who held it. Young. Fresh out of school. Bright eyes and optimistic. Her dark hair up in a perky side-ponytail. He decided he instantly hated her on sight. No one could be that cheerful and not be working some sort of con -or else be completely out of their mind. He snatched the paper from her hands in one single abrupt and impatient motion._

 _"I'm Leah." She informed him. "I'm your new intern."_

 _"I can read." Hector informed her, looking over the letter and her credentials. "Levin… that's a German variant of the Hebrew 'Lev', right? Are you ashkenasi?"_

 _"Yes, but I'm not very observant. I won't let it interfere with my work, if that's what you're worried about." She assured him._

 _"I'm sepharic myself, actually." He informed her. "But that's not why I asked. Do you know what I do here?"_

 _Here, Leah paused, and her inexperience showed in her hesitation. She might have excellent marks and glittering recommendations from instructors. But she was still fresh out of school with only the minimum amount of work hours under her belt. "Gene mapping… right?"_

 _He sighed, tossing her papers onto his messy and over cluttered desk. "Well, you're not wrong. Gene mapping is one of the things I do. But its a sans to an end, not the end itself. What I actually do here is research on one specific -and frustratingly rare- gene mutation. Have you ever heard of the OSM-1 gene?"_

 _Leah shook her head 'no'._

 _"Well, then, allow me to educate you."_

 _The OSM-1 gene, Leah learned, was a rare genetic mutation that -according to Hector- gave an individual extraordinary abilities. She laughed at that. Voice light and clear. As if he hadn't just been explaining his life's work to her, but instead was summarizing the premise for the next episode of Spiderman and his Amazing Friends. "That sounds like something out of a kids TV show!"_

 _He made a face of displeasure at her comment. But it wasn't like this was the first time anyone had ever made light of his research. So, instead of biting back with a jabbing remark Hector continued his explanation. Like baldness, the OSM-1 gene was passed through the mother, but usually only affected males. Females were carriers of the gene, but rarely over manifested it. That was why -Leah later observed- the majority of his volunteer subjects were male. For a female to manifest the OSM-1 gene, she would have to inherit it from both the mother and the father as well._

 _As the dutiful intern, Leah took notes on everything he said. Then Hector pulled out a syringe and asked her for a DNA sample._

 _"Wait, what!?" Leah was so alarmed that she dropped her memo book._

 _"Might as well." Hector shrugged. "Its such a rare mutation, you probably don't have it. But, since you're gonna be working here for the next six months, why not check? Consider it an initiation."_

 _"I assume you screened yourself, too, then."_

 _"Of course!" He nodded. "I'm disappointed to say that I do not carry the gene. Though, the fact that I don't have powers is evidence enough of that."_

 _As it turned out, Leah did carry the OSM-1 gene. Hector's opinion of her changed instantly. Suddenly, her youth and optimism wasn't obnoxious. Her side ponytail didn't irritate him. Her inexperience and freshness wasn't a drawback but a bonus. She was a blank slate. Fresh clay that he could mold. And Leah was a quick study. Clever and intuitive. Soon, Leah was almost as much an expert on the OSM-1 gene as Hector was. They were pioneers of a field not widely studied._

 _After her six-month internship was concluded, Hector took her on as a paid lab partner._

 _._

 _It was as she was doing a follow-up on one of their volunteer subjects, a young man who's real name was Greg Argile, but he preferred to be called by his 'character name', Aggregor. Apparently, Greg belonged to that new Dungeons and Dragons cult that seemed all the rage these days. Book, and dice, and strange costumes… Leah didn't see the appeal. But it was as she was doing her follow-up on Greg that things got weird._

 _Two men in strange costumes -like something out of Blade Runner- came barging into the lab carrying a third between them._

 _"Where's Servantis?" One of them demanded._

 _Leah didn't know who they were or what they thought they were doing barging into -what was supposed to be- a private medical lab. But she placed herself between them and her volunteer. "What in the heck do you think you're doing?"_

 _"Who are you?" Demanded the other helping to hold their companion._

 _She was about to turn all three of them out when Hector came out of his office to discover what the commotion was about. He recognized the trio instantly. "Tennyson! Green! What the hell kinda trouble did you two get Driscoll into this time!?"_

 _"Oh. Yeah. We're the trouble makers." One of them rolled his eyes. He was middle aged with the look of someone from Native decent. His long hair pulled back in a ponytail._

 _Hector ignored the comment. He turned his attention to Leah. "Levin, get our volunteer out of here. You two, put the idiot on my table!"_

 _There then followed the most surreal experience of Leah's life._

 _Greg was pushed out of the lab and left standing confused outside in the building corridor. While behind the locked lab door, Leah helped the other two men, Tennyson and Green, get the third man, Driscoll, onto the table. Hector was at the table side in moments, pulling a pair of sterile gloves over his hands. A change had come over him, gone was the detached researcher who's only focus was the object of his research, and in his place was a medical surgeon with concern for his patient -bedside manner and all._

 _He looked in Driscoll's mouth and checked his pupils for dilation. Felt his lymph nodes, and temperature. "What were you fighting?"_

 _"Xenomorph of some kind." Tennyson supplied. "Hostile, obviously. Phil kinda pissed it off."_

 _"He's good at that." Hector joked. "Its his super-power. There're abrasions on the back of his throat. Did he swallow anything? Or maybe inhale?"_

 _"Inhaled." Green nodded. "Some kinda red dust."_

 _Hector nodded as if he might have guessed as much. "Levin, we'll need a chest x-ray. Tennyson, Green, help me get his armor off."_

 _Leah had no idea what was going on. It felt like she had suddenly walked onto the set of the Outer Limits, the Twilight Zone, or the Scary Door. But, for whatever reason, she found that she didn't want to leave. Having men barge in on the lab suddenly was unprecedented and if she was a normal rational woman, she should be frightened. But instead Leah just felt exhilarated. It was like an adventure had just dropped into her lap. She half expected one of them to pull a bag of cant out of his pocket and say, 'Would you like a jelly baby?' So it was with more enthusiasm than alarm that Leah pulled a disused x-ray from a corner of the room and wheeled it over to the exam table._

 _The x-ray came back showing a foreign body in the lungs. A foreign organism growing in the lungs._

 _"This is some crazy Star Trek thing… isn't it." Leah gasped, not quite believing what her eyes were telling her was wrapped around Driscoll's bronchial tubes._

 _"Well, you're not wrong." Green replied without look at her. Then to Hector, "Servantis, can you get it out?"_

 _"Course I can! Levin, scalpel!"_

 _Leah placed a surgical blade in his hand and the surgery to remove the alien body from Driscoll's lungs began. It was a long ordeal and the man almost died on the table -a couple of times- but at the end of it, Hector was sewing him back up with a satisfied -almost proud- look on his face. Pain killers were administered and when Hector decided it was safe for Billings to be moved, Tennyson and Green took him away._

 _The tools were sterilized. The table was hosed down. Leah and Hector sat down on the desk in his office, physically and mentally exhausted._

 _After a prolonged pause, Hector opened a lower drawer in his desk and pulled out a bottle of brandy. He handed the whole bottle to Leah. "You did surprisingly well with that."_

 _Her hand shook as she held the bottle. Whether it was from exhaustion or nerves she had no idea. She had originally gone to school to work in the ER. Research assistant was just where she ended up. She never would have imagined she'd have to assist in an emergency surgery in a boring little private research lab. She was equal parts shocked and excited. "That was an alien."_

 _"You're in shock. Have a drink." To illustrate, he pulled the bottle from her hands, took a swig of it himself and passed it back to her. "I guess this would be the time for some sort of explanation. That was… my other job."_

 _Leah did drink some brandy. Several large gulps. "Don't explain right now. I won't retain it. I'm just… that was an alien."_

 _"Yes."_

 _"In his chest! That was an alien in his chest! I feel like Sigourney Weaver!"_

 _"You're much prettier than her."_

 _"What?"_

 _"What?"_

 _There was a pregnant pause between them in which the two just stared at one another. Neither really quite sure what had just happened. In that instant, something changed between them. Some indistinct, ephemeral, undefinable thing. They were no longer researcher and his assistant. By allowing her to assist with his 'other job' Hector had let her in on a secret. A secret that they now shared. There relationship wasn't professional anymore. But they weren't quite sure what it was going to turn into._

 _._

 _Time passed. Hector continued his research. Leah helped. Every now and again, Tennyson, Green, or Driscoll would come to them with a problem. Not always a medical emergency. Sometimes they found something they wanted to have dissected. Or needed a vaccine or a cure for some alien ailment. Sometimes just simple questions or for research. In short, any issue that couldn't be solved by shooting it was brought to Hector's lab._

 _And Leah got to know them. Green was a Navajo, originally from Arizona. He had a son who was engaged and often complained about young people and manic wedding planning. Something Tennyson liked to tease him about. All of his children were already married. Driscoll had no family -at least, none that he talked about- but he had a keen interest in Arthurian legend and medieval times, also money and alien technology. It was those last two keen interest of his that lead to his being booted from the team. The last Leah heard of Driscoll, he joined a different group that was at odds with them._

 _Driscoll's leaving left a hole in the team. But it was eventually filled by a new guy. Billings. Leah didn't really like him much. He was rude, stubborn and aggressive. All qualities she was sure were helpful when fighting aliens, but mad him completely unpleasant to be around in social settings._

 _It was after one these visits that Hector and Leah once again found themselves sitting in his office, drinking the brandy he kept in his desk._

 _"I have to say, you handle yourself in these situations remarkably well." Hector commented._

 _Leah only shrugged. "Composure under stress must run in the family, I guess. My grandfather was a soldier in the war. He used to say that the things that could kill him were what made him feel most alive. He was a bit of an adrenaline junkie. Liked big guns and fast cars."_

 _"Hm. I wonder if a high tolerance for stress is a hereditary trait linked to the OSM-1 gene…" He thought aloud. She looked at him. "Come now, we already know you carry the gene. Perhaps a high stress tolerance is attached to the gene to help preserve the line of heredity. After all, how else could a mother without abilities manage to rear an offspring with abilities?"_

 _"With a firm hand." Leah answered as if this should have been obvious._

 _"Even if said hypothetical offspring could shoot lighting out of his hands or suck the life out of other living things?" Hector pressed. "Carriers of the OSM-1 gene have to have some kind of natural talent to allow them to raise their offering. Otherwise, what's to stop the child from destroying the home or killing the parent. You son would have powers you do not."_

 _"I'm having a son now?" Leah laughed as she took another sip from the brandy. "Call the Pope! God's knocked up another unmarried Jewish girl!"_

 _Maybe it was the adrenaline of the alien crisis they just helped Tennyson and the others avert, or maybe the alcohol, or it could have just been Leah's wide dark eyes that seemed to shine so brightly when she was excited, then again, maybe the reason didn't matter. But Hector got the best idea ever! He pulled the bottle out of Leah's hands and gazed into her deep dark eyes, still shining brightly from the earlier excitement. He loved those eyes…_

 _"Why not?" He asked._

 _"Why not what?" Leah blinked at him._

 _"Lets make a son." Hector suggested. "You carry a latent OSM-1 gene. Your son would definitely have the active gene. It would give us the chance to study the trait in an individual from infancy -no, from conception! What do you say?"_

 _"I say you're drunk." Leah stood up from the desk. Grabbed the brandy bottle out of his hands and stowed it back in the desk. "Come on, its time to call it a night. I'll drive you home."_

 _"You're quite forward. Inviting yourself over to my place." He smiled at her, thinking she would look gorgeous sprawled across his bed. Wearing nothing but a smile and her deep, dark eyes, made bright with vitality from lovemaking. "You have beautiful eyes… I hope our son has your eyes."_

 _"Man… you are so drunk!"_

 _._

 _But he eventually worse her down. Not with begging or nagging. Panting after her tails. No._

 _In fact, Hector preferred to pretend the conversation never happened. That he never made the suggestion and Leah never heard it. She took him home because he was to drunk to drive and nothing ever happened. But the suggestion hung in the air between them. Unspoken. Unmentioned. But still always there._

 _They found themselves giving each other awkward stared and unreadable glances. Funny looks and smiles. Like they were school children suddenly, with no idea how to vocalize the things they were thinking. Once the suggestion was made out loud, it was always in the back of their minds. Leah would be lying if she didn't admit that the idea had some appeal. Hector was intelligent and well educated -qualities she always imagined she'd want in a donor if she ever decided to have a child. She couldn't marry him, though. Oh. no. Hector was already married to his work, Leah couldn't have a man like that._

 _"Would you late me raise him however I wanted?" She asked one day, out of nowhere._

 _"Raise what now?"_

 _"If we made a son, and I let you study him for his OSM-1 gene, would you leave me alone to raise him and not interfere?"_

 _"Well, I imagine once he got to a certain age, he'd have a few things to say about how he'd like to be raised." Hector laughed. "Goodness knows you'll probably have a betting time controlling him than I ever would. Remember, he'll have powers and we'll have none."_

 _"Sounds exciting." She grinned._

 _Hector just shook his head. "Levin, you are ten pounds of crazy in a three pound box."_

 _He closed the space between them, pulling Leah into an ardent kiss. More passionate than Leah would have expected from him. Hector was passionate about his research, he was not passionate about people. Yet -with that kiss- it was like he saw saying he needed her, not just wanted her, but needed her. There was no question of 'your place or mine?' they did it un the desk they always seemed to find themselves sitting on after an alien job._

 _._

 _Hector ducked quickly to avoid the beaker that smashed agains the wall right behind where his head had been. Leah might be a petie little woman, but man did she have one strong throwing arm!_

 _"You did something to him! I know you did!" One arm wrapped protectively around her swollen belly, the other gripped around on the counter behind her for another projectile to throw. "Damn you and your experiments, Hector! This is our baby!"_

 _"This was the plan all along, Leah!" He shouted back to her from the behind the protection of the exam table. "To study the OSM-1 gene in an individual from infancy. That was what we both agreed on. That's what you agreed to!"_

 _"You said study! Study! That's what I agreed to!" She threw box of tongue depressors in his general direction. It bounced open on the exam table over him, showering Hector in flat wood sticks. "I never said you could change him! Now what did you do? Something's different, I can feel it!"_

 _There was a lull in her outburst as Leah leaned back against the counter, one hand to her belly, the other going to her head as she fought a sudden dizzy spell. That was happening more and more frequently. Dizzy spells. Fatigue. Drowsiness. Loss of energy. Just general and over-all tiredness. Like something was sucking up all her vitality. She had a feeling it was the baby and she had a feeling it was doing that now because of something Hector did._

 _Hector counted the seconds of silence. Leah wasn't screaming or throwing anything. Cautiously, he climbed out from behind the protection of the exam table. Saw Leah leaning against the counter, hand to her head, other hand around her belly, fighting the urge to pass out. In moments, Hector crossed the room and held her in his arms. "I got you. I got you. Go ahead and faint if you have to. Don't fight passing out."_

 _._

 _Leah woke up on the exam table. An IV drip in her arm. Hector asleep in an office chair next to her. A notebook open on his lap._

 _She reached across him and plucked the notebook from his lap. As she assumed, it was his research notes._

 _Leah read pages of his observations and theories. His idle musings or hypothesis on the OSM-1 gene. Until she got to the more recent entries. Outlines for an experiment. A way to alter the gene so that it didn't have to pass through the maternal line. So that anyone who carried the gene could manifest its abilities. So that a male could still produce OSM-1 offspring even with a female partner that did not possess the gene -'Osmosians' were what he called them. A new subspecies of the human genome. Leah knew Hector was passionate, but she never really imagined that he was also crazy._

 _What possible purpose would he have in wanting to breed a new species? Other than playing god, of course._

 _Leah had read enough. She lit a bunsen burner and burred the notebook. Went into the office and burned all the files relating to her baby. She left a note for Hector when he woke up._

 _'STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY SON!'_

 _And left._

 _To the best of her knowledge, Leah never saw him again._

…

"But, ya know, it does make me wonder…" Gwen mused.

"About what?" Both Kevin and Devlin asked.

"Well, if Devin Levin never existed, then, who's your father, Kevin?"

Devlin glanced between his parents. Noting his mother's casual air, she was just wondering out loud, not actually expecting an answer. Kevin, on the other hand, went very, very tense. His motions cutting the wood became mechanical, as if trying to distract himself with the task.

"I haven't got a father." Kevin answered.

"So, I guess Daddy Issues are a family tradition." Devlin commented.

"And crazy's genetic." Kevin shot back.

…

END


End file.
